UK industrial action hits December postal volumes
DECEMBER postal volumes have fallen, as Royal Mail industrial action has delayed deliveries, Guernsey Post has said.
Tomorrow will be the last day for deliveries before Christmas, in what is the busiest time of year for the business.
About half a million parcels are normally delivered during December.
But Guernsey Post CEO Boley Smillie said compared to this time last year parcel quantities were down 13% and letters down by 26%, which has led to a 14% decrease in revenue.
‘Without question there will be a lot of items still stuck in the UK because of the weekly Royal Mail industrial action we have endured this month,’ he said.
UK postal workers were on strike on 9, 11, 14 and 15 December, and a two-day strike begins tomorrow.
The strike is over a demand for pay increases and proposed changes in working conditions.
Guernsey Post has been working to keep the disruption to islanders post to a minimum.
But stormy weather has also proved problematic as a disrupted boat schedule has presented the service with some erratic mail arrival patterns, with Alderney being hit even harder.
While numbers are down, posties have still been kept extremely busy as December has seen volumes double that of a typical month.
‘Our team are used to dealing with high volumes of mail, and everyone is working incredibly hard to deliver the mail as soon as it arrives in Guernsey,’ said Mr Smillie.
Guernsey Post does not expect to see many items posted this week come through until January.
‘It is likely we will see a busy January as volumes that may have been delayed prior to Christmas will work their way through the system,’ said Mr Smillie.
A busy January may be cut short though with the prospect of further strikes in the new year potentially causing further stress to the already inconsistent postal flow.
The last pre-Christmas delivery day will be tomorrow with the Envoy House Post office and parcel collection counter closed on Christmas Eve.
Deliveries or roadside collections will also not be in action this Saturday. However the Market Street Post Office will be open from 8.30am to 1pm.
The last postage day for local parcels and letters was yesterday.
More information is available at guernseypost.com/christmas.
