Parcels piling up at Australia Post warehouses
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Have you already done your Christmas shopping online? If yes, then great! Now all that’s left is to receive the parcels and wrap them up to be put under the Christmas tree.
However, recent reports say that a new delivery crisis is brewing across the country, and those expecting their packages may just have to wait just a little bit longer than anticipated.
Australia Post parcel crisis puts Christmas deliveries in doubt. Photo by The Age via 9NEWS.
The online shopping season has barely begun. Click Frenzy just finished, then it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday and then the big one: Christmas sales.
If Australia Post is in a tight spot now, it might be hard for them to receive a torrent of incoming deliveries. And from the looks of it, the postal service is far from prepared.
Paul Graham, Australia Post new Chief Executive, recently addressed the online parcel blowup.
“Last December was our biggest month ever. Yet, in the September just gone, we were up 40 per cent on that again. Each week, we’re consistently delivering well over 10 million parcels per week.”
This raises the question: Australia Post may be investing in increasing their capacity, but is it going to be enough?
A spokesperson from the parcel company said, “Australia Post has been managing Christmas-like volumes for 18 months.”
“We expect this Christmas to be our biggest ever.”
“That’s why we’ve hired record numbers of people in the past year and are adding more than 5000 new people ahead of Christmas with 80 per cent of those roles already filled.”
“Australia Post has added 30 per cent extra processing capacity this Christmas thanks to new permanent and pop-up processing facilities, we’ll have more planes in the air and more drivers out on the roads including on weekends, and will be delivering right up to and including Christmas Eve.”
The delivery company suggests sending the items by December 13 if customers want to make sure they receive them in time for Christmas.
Australians are being warned their parcels might not reach their destination by Christmas. Photo from Australia Post.
Freight industry insider Marshall Hughes was recently asked which delivery service he would personally use.
“Anyone but Australia Post,” he answered. “They just got hammered; they weren’t ready for it.”
“Drivers and staff are one of the hardest things at the moment.”
He proceeded to explain that a lot of the delivery drivers are subcontractors to subcontractors.
“Fuel’s gone up astronomically. If you’re a guy being paid $35 an hour to run a one-tonne van and your fuel goes up 30 per cent, who’s going to pay for that?”
Hughes also explained that deliveries to homes are much more complicated than to businesses.
“People’s houses are not set up to receive freight; that is not what they were designed to do.”
“The first crisis for home delivery is now, and the second one will be after Christmas when all this stuff gets sent back. The returns; no one is good at returns, so that will be another massive mess. It is really hard and really intensive.”
You heard it here first! We suggest sending your packages out early or doing your online shopping for Christmas sooner rather than later, otherwise, they might just get stuck in the Australia Post warehouse!
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