Busy posties handling 7% rise in parcels and letters
Guernsey Post has experienced its busiest day of the year this week, as it deals with a vastly increased load of parcels and letters being sent in time for Christmas.
On Tuesday, a total of 28,375 items were handled by the company’s new parcel sorting machine, which was installed a couple of months ago.
Chief executive Boley Smillie said Tuesday’s total averaged out at more than one item per household across the island.
‘We’ve been sorting over 20,000 items a day recently. By comparison we sort between 7,000 and 8,000 at quieter times.’
He said that by the end of Tuesday the company had handled approximately 204,000 items since the start of the month – a 7% increase on the same date last year – and he expected the total to rise to about 250,000 by the end of tomorrow.
‘We’ve seen an 8% increase in the number of letters being sent compared to this time last year, and between a 5% and 10% increase in the number of parcels.’
Mr Smillie predicted that the company would reach more than 500,000 items handled by the end of the month, possibly even before Christmas.
This would be more than the approximate 450,000 items handled last December.
‘We only deal with between 150,000 and 200,000 items in quieter months,’ he added.
He said that, while the company was still in its early days with the new machine, the feedback among staff had been positive.
‘People ask how we managed to cope without it before, which tells you a lot about how much it’s transformed the way we work.
‘Our delivery team is able to focus much more on delivery rather than processing, and the half dozen staff involved with its operation have done a sterling job, it’s worked amazingly well.’
He added that the company had faced a far less disrupted festive period this year, after postal strikes in the UK last year.
‘The weather has been the biggest disruptor this time, but the team has been very good at dealing with the ferry schedules.’
He paid tribute to his colleagues, who were working additional hours to handle the extra items.
‘We’ve also got eight temporary staff, known as Christmas casuals, working over the next few weeks, so big thanks to them too.’
