Royal Mail Warns Some Christmas Deliveries May Arrive Later Than Expected This Year

If you're planning on posting your Christmas presents this year, you better get a wriggle on.

The Royal Mail has warned of delays to its usual services due to "exceptionally high volumes of post" as more people plump for online shopping amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

While Prime Minister Boris Johnson has offered the chance for families to create "Christmas bubbles" over the festive season, a great number of people have elected to spend the festive season alone so not to spread the virus to more vulnerable family members - meaning they may choose to post their gifts to loved ones.

Unsplash)

Meanwhile, social distancing measures in mail centres and delivery offices were also causing further delays.

In a statement, Royal Mail explained how the "greatly increased uptake of online Christmas shopping" may cause some delays.

"Despite our best efforts, exhaustive planning and significant investment in extra resources, some customers may experience slightly longer delivery timescales than our usual service standards," the company said.

"This is due to the exceptionally high volumes we are seeing, exacerbated by the coronavirus-related measures we have put in place in local mail centres and delivery offices.

PA Images)

"In such cases, we always work hard to get back to providing our usual level of service as quickly as we can."

Online orders have risen more than 50 per cent this year, with the second lockdown in November seeing all non-essential shops closed during peak sales periods, such as Black Friday.

In order to help with the 200 million more parcels in the postal system, Royal Mail has taken on 33,000 seasonal workers - but this is not thought to be enough to cope with such unprecedented demand.

A number of retailers have brought forward their last order date for Christmas so people can receive their presents in time.

Unsplash)

Other outlets have placed blame on the Royal Mail for delivery delays - with some parcels arriving with week-long delays.

The Royal Mail is not the only delivery service hiring more staff to keep up with demand.

Amazon UK has recruited 20,000 staff, while Hermes 13,000 and Yodel a further 3,000 to help with the increased demand.

Topics: Christmas, UK News

Kimberley Bond

Kim is a journalist at Tyla, and has previously worked at the Evening Standard, Radio Times as well as several national newspapers. A showbiz obsessive and a television fanatic, Kim is particularly interested in celebrity gossip, A-list events and the latest releases on either the big or small screen. Contact her at [email protected]

@0xKimberley