Stan McRory sorting letters in the Enniskillen sorting office. Photos: Andrew Paton
The hard-working team at Royal Mail’s Delivery Office in Enniskillen is working flat out this week to ensure that the huge volume of Christmas cards, gifts and parcels arrive at their destinations on time.
Even in this digital era, receiving and sending hand-written Christmas cards from and to family and friends makes Christmas the busiest time of year for all dedicated Royal Mail staff. As always the Enniskillen team is putting its ‘stamp’ on delivering the best possible service to customers.
Staff at the Chanterhill depot are working around the clock and handling hundreds of thousands of items of Christmas mail destined for the county over the festive period.
The 74 postmen and women based at the Old Tempo Road site are currently scanning, sorting and delivering up to 40,000 items to 15,000 addresses in the region every day in the run up to December 25th. Hundreds to letters for Santa Claus have also been processed and sent to the big man in the red suit.
The service has the help of three additional vehicles to their normal fleet of 35, acquired to help deal with the Christmas rush which stretches from Belleek to Irvinestown in addition to Enniskillen itself.
Seamus McGoldrick, Rory Behan, Simon Bowers and David Brian allocating post for delivery across Fermanagh this week.
Mark Cullen, manager of the Enniskillen Sorting Office says staff are happy enough to work the longer hours but adds that more online shoppers means the volume of mail being handled has increased dramatically since the middle of November.
“We are finding people ordering online a lot earlier for delivery so we expect to see a dip in parcels in the days just before Christmas. Anyone who orders anything now is taking a bit of a chance as the companies may not have items in stock and despatched in time”.
The recent spell of wintry weather did hamper efforts as some areas experienced delays to deliveries over the past week or so as a result of the impact of the snow and ice.
For those who want to ensure their special delivery arrives on time, deadlines are fast approaching to get those cards written and presents wrapped.
Royal Mail is reminding people of the last posting dates for Christmas: For 2nd class it’s today (Wednesday, December 20th) and tomorrow (Thursday December 21st) for 1st class and this Saturday, December 23rd for guaranteed Special Delivery.
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