Online shopping tops 10,000 parcels

For many of us, the Christmas shopping rush started around mid-December.

For NZ Post New Plymouth Smart Rd operation centre duty manager Jarrod Campbell, it started soon after Labour Weekend and hasn’t stopped.

Online shopping has increased the workload for the New Plymouth parcel depot, which averages 6000 tracked parcels a day in normal periods.

As Christmas edged closer, staff processed 10,000 tracked parcels on Tuesday this week, Campbell said.

‘‘From the moment you walk in the office it doesn’t stop.’’

At the New Plymouth depot, five truckloads of mail arrive each morning between 1.30am2am to be sorted for delivery by

6am.

A total of 250 cubic metres of mail freight was processed on Tuesday, compared to 190cu m in normal working periods, Campbell said. ‘‘With sales such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there has not been any real dropoff since Labour Weekend.

‘‘We just get so many orders through online shopping it had really increased our workload.

‘‘People leave mailing the Christmas shopping late, including myself, so the number of deliveries gets ramped up every week the closer we get to Christmas.’’

Campbell did not expect any slow down after Christmas, either, as people keep shopping for post-Christmas and Boxing Day sales.

Delivery of online purchases also bought more logistics into play, he said. ‘‘We have

25-kilogram maximum weight limit but we get bikes, for example, so we need bigger vehicles so we can fit them inside.’’

Last year, Taranaki shoppers spent $127 million online – almost

20 per cent more than 2017, and with an average spend of $100.

Online shopping included 1.2 million transactions, a jump of 14 per cent, with an average spend of $105.

NZ Post had added three permanent courier vans to meet the increased volumes.

For the peak period, from Labour Weekend to Christmas, 11 extra staff, including posties, delivery agents, and mail and parcel sorters had been hired.

As well, two extra parcel delivery ‘‘sweeper’’ vans, and three extra truck-and-trailer units for deliveries servicing Hamilton, Auckland and South Taranaki had been added.

Ryan Walmsley sorts packages ready for delivery at the NZ Post parcel depot on Smart Rd in New Plymouth.

Photos: ANDY JACKSON/ STUFF NZ Post courier driver Manpreet Singh sorts parcels for delivery.

NZ Post New Plymouth duty manager Jarrod Campbell said online shopping had increased each year, with more parcels being processed at the depot.

Vicki Mardon helps sort out the thousand of parcels at the NZ Post New Plymouth parcel depot.