Final push for NZ Post: ‘We’ll be the last van in the driveway before Santa’
With less than a week until Christmas Day it’s the final push for NZ Post who are working around the clock to get about 2 million parcels under the tree in time for the big day, delivering almost 9 parcels per second* across the country.
NZ Post Chief Operating Officer Brendon Main says the team are flat out delivering a record-breaking Christmas, after what’s been a record-breaking year, and couriers will be delivering right up until Christmas Eve.
“Last week we delivered about 2.3 million parcels, and this week we’re expecting to deliver almost 2 million. We’ve got just a few days left to get millions of parcels where they need to be in time for Christmas, and our people are working around the clock to deliver those parcels for Kiwis. We’ll be delivering right up until Christmas Eve, and we’ll be the last van in the driveway before Santa arrives.”
The cut-off for sending parcels via NZ Post’s economy service has already passed, with today being the final deadline for courier items. “If you haven’t sent your parcel yet, you’ll need to send it right now to give it the best chance of arriving in time for Christmas.”
“We’ve brought on as much extra capacity as we possibly can to meet the huge demand for parcel delivery that we’ve seen this year. Our teams have been working incredibly hard to deliver these huge numbers of parcels for Kiwis. We’ve brought on hundreds of extra people, we’ve extended our operating hours and are processing 24/7, and we’ve re-designed our Auckland network to get parcels where they need to be as fast as we can.”
International supply chains are continuing to suffer as a result of COVID-19 warns Brendon Main. “Domestically, NZ Post is doing everything in our power to get parcels delivered on time, but Kiwis should be aware that there are ongoing delays with parcels coming into New Zealand from overseas due to a lack of flights available, which is outside of our control. We’re expecting some parcels, including some coming from Australia, to take longer to get into New Zealand than we’d like.”
“It’s been great to see the Christmas spirit from Kiwis who know our processing and delivery people are working as hard as they can to get their parcels to them under challenging circumstances. People have been really kind, patient and understanding, and we know our frontline people really appreciate this.”
“It’s been quite the year for NZ Post. We began to see record parcel numbers in August when the country first went into lockdown, and those volumes have increased again and again in the lead up to Christmas. Even compared to last lockdown in 2020, we’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Since Labour Weekend in October, NZ Post has delivered 16.5 million parcels, an increase of about 24% on last year. Forecasting by NZ Post shows a likely total delivery number of 20 million parcels for the busy online shopping season in 2021.
“New Zealanders have taken to online shopping in a way that has changed the retail landscape forever, and we’re just proud that we can be here to meet that demand and deliver those parcels to Kiwis waiting patiently at home,” says Brendon Main.
NZ Post is also spreading Christmas cheer with Write to Santa. NZ Post has been working closely this Christmas with Santa and his elves, to ensure Kiwi kids receive a response to their letters.
While the deadline has passed to have physical postcard responses received in the mail from Santa, Kiwi kids can still send Santa an online message up until 5:00pm, Wednesday 22 December and will receive an email response. Email responses take 24 hours from when your online letter is sent, and you can choose to have your reply in Te Reo Māori or English.
To make and send a digital postcard, visit www.nzpost.co.nz/writetosanta
*Based on the 5 day delivery week prior to Christmas, 12 hours per day.