Bundaberg Region residents waiting for a parcel in the mail will be relieved to know Australia Post has expanded operations to keep up with delivery demand during Covid-19.
The company has repurposed and opened 15 new processing facilities and commenced recruitment for 600 casuals into the network and call centre to assist in managing the influx of parcel distrubution.
Parcel deliveries around the country have continued to average almost two million parcels per day since just before Easter.
The volumes have almost doubled in the last four weeks, up by 90 per cent compared to last year, as more householders shop online as they self-isolate.
Australia Post Acting Group Chief Operating Officer Rod Barnes said everyone was working hard to manage significant delays impacting delivery of parcels.
“With our business adapting to the challenges the current pandemic presents, our normal practice of delivery has been impacted,” he said.
“We are experiencing significant delivery delays due to limited flights, hygiene and social distancing requirements in our network to preserve the community’s safety, and an increase in parcel volumes as more people shop online.
“For the last four weeks, we have been operating our processing and delivery services seven days a week, with our dedicated staff working on rotation over the 24-hour period, each day.”
Mr Barnes said the re-purpose and opening of 15 new facilities around the country, and the employment of more than 600 casuals, would assist in the network being able to sustain the current parcel delivery demands and reduce delays.
“In the last weekend alone this additional staffing allowed us to accept and process an unprecedented three million parcels into facilities from eCommerce customers,” he said.
“To assist in getting these parcels to customers’ doors, we have refocussed 700 of our people, a mix of posties and drivers from our StarTrack business, to provide additional van deliveries across the country.”
Mr Barnes said Australia Post had also chartered an additional eight freighter flights, increasing this to 17 dedicated air freighter flights per day.
“These flights provide some relief and have improved our Express Post priority service deliveries across major capital cities by the next business day,” he said.
“Unfortunately, they do not substitute reduced access to capacity on passenger planes, and we cannot ensure the speed of deliveries at the same level as prior to the pandemic.”
“We appreciate that delays can be frustrating and want to reassure that our people are working hard to get customer’s parcels to them safely and as quickly as possible.”
Mr Barnes said staff continued to work tirelessly under difficult circumstances.
“We’re asking everyone to be kind and treat our dedicated people with the courtesy and respect they deserve – whether it be in a call centre, Post Office or dropping your delivery off,” he said.
“Aggressive and abusive behaviour towards our people will not be tolerated.”
- Other news: Ctrl+Alt+Delete and reboot your privacy
