New Zealand Post is preparing to process an anticipated 41.5 million letters and parcels this December. This includes 20% more parcels compared to the previous year.
We are seeing continued strong demand in online shopping, which has been encouraged by popular sale days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. NZ Post has taken on an extra 600 staff, 200 vans, 13 line-haul trucks and is operating an additional 737 aircraft to meet the predicted increased Christmas volumes.
We started to see the growth in early November, with our busiest days already reaching over 2.7 million items in the network, says New Zealand Post’s Chief Operating Officer, Mark Stewart.
“Being ready for Christmas has been a priority as we know how much it matters for people. We’ll be pulling out all the stops right up until the last delivery day which is the last Saturday before Christmas [23 December].”
We recommend customers send their mail and parcels within New Zealand by 19 December for Standard Post, ParcelPost and ParcelPost Tracked. Items being sent by FastPost, Courier Parcel and Courier & Signature Parcel need to be sent by 20 December. We are also encouraging customers to allow themselves extra time for both ordering and sending.
NZ Post has a range of convenient options for receiving parcels. Customers can choose a pick up location such as a participating supermarket or petrol station, or give NZ Post permission to leave a parcel without requiring a signature for it.