Chris Curtis, the Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, visited postal workers at Kiln Farm Delivery Office on Friday to find out more about what it takes to deliver letters and parcels in the peak Christmas period.
Local MP visits Milton Keynes posties to show support in busy run-up to Christmas
- Chris Curtis visited posties at Kiln Farm Delivery Office in his constituency to show his support during the busiest time of the year for the postal service
- Around twice as many parcels and letters are sent through Royal Mail during the festive period compared with other months as people send Christmas cards and shop for gifts online
- Kiln Farm Delivery Office has added extra 47 vehicles for the Christmas peak period to boost parcel deliveries
Christmas is Royal Mail’s busiest period, with around double the normal volume of letters and parcels processed. Chris spoke to Lead Customer Operations Manager David Austin about Royal Mail’s strategy to continue to make sending and receiving parcels as convenient as possible over the festive period by adding more choice. This includes services like Parcel Collect, where posties pick up parcels from customers at the doorstep, and offering more ways to drop off parcels at convenient times and locations. Royal Mail has already rolled out more than 5,000 parcel points this year, including at Collect+ stores and its growing number of parcel lockers.
Royal Mail prepares all year to deliver Christmas. Across the UK, the business has recruited 16,000 temporary workers to help its 85,000 posties sort the additional mail and increasing number of parcels expected over the festive period. Almost 4,000 new vans, trucks and trailers are being added to the fleet in time for Christmas.
The Kiln Farm Delivery Office has hired 47 additional vehicles for the Christmas period to increase the number of parcel deliveries in the local area.
David Austin, Lead Customer Operations Manager for Kiln Farm, said: “It was great to have Chris visit our Delivery Office, interact with our staff, and to show him how we are gearing up for our peak period. We are pulling out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers.”
Chris Curtis, Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes North, said: “Royal Mail is foundational to the festive season in the UK – it wouldn’t be the same without our posties! I have always had so much respect for the incredibly hardworking team at Royal Mail, and I have even more now having seen how the operation works on the inside.”
