Austrian Post and Swiss Post both set new records in terms of parcel volumes delivered duringthe pre-Christmas period in December.
On some days shortly before Christmas, Austrian Post delivered twice as many parcels as itsaverage daily volume, and made occasional deliveries on Saturdays and Sundays to cope with the hugevolumes to get them delivered on time to the recipients.
Austrian Post board member Peter Umundum, who is responsible for parcels and logistics, said: “In the last weeks before Christmas, we delivered around 400,000 parcels a day. In total we expectto reach a total of around 65 million parcels for the whole year 2012. This is an increase ofnearly 10%.”
The increase is largely due to the continuing rise in e-commerce along with delivery serviceperformance, he explained.
Austrian Post also delivered about 70 million letters and Christmas cards to some 4.2 millionhouseholds and companies, while over 6 million customer transactions were carried out at postoffices and postal partner agencies during the pre-Christmas period.
Walter Hitziger, Member of the Management Board of Austrian Post, added: “Together, our deliverydrivers, post office employees and post partners have once again ensured for millions of shipmentsto be delivered on time. This is a great achievement.”
Austrian Post explained that above-average volumes are also likely to be generated after theholidays with returns of Christmas parcels and many annual accounts and contracts sent over theturn of the year.
Similarly, Swiss Post handled a record number of parcels and letters from 1 December untilChristmas Day with a total of 16 million parcels delivered during the festive season compared to 15million in previous years.
On peak days, the Swiss postal operator processed well over a million parcels and up to 20million letters per day at its three state-of-the-art sorting centres in the country, especiallyduring the last week before Christmas, which is nearly twice the volume of a normal workingday.
