Courier delivers 700 items in a day
KAREN COLTMAN
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From Castlepoint to Ngawi and back again, couriers and posties are flat tack across Wairarapa getting parcels and post in letter boxes and on doorsteps before Christmas.
To keep up with the incoming mail, a team of more than 45 people are working throughout the district.
Contractors have come on board to help, and on-call posties have been called in.
Parcel numbers spiked after the Black Friday shopping boom on November 29 just before the Christmas rush began.
NZ Post statistics show online shopping in Masterton went up 19 per cent last year and went up 18 per cent in Martinborough, Carterton, and Greytown.
This means more parcel deliveries for NZ Post as the region’s population increases.
Remote rural areas had online shopping grow 20 per cent last year.
Wairarapa service delivery manager Vaughan Smith was preparing the team and operations for the move out of the King St post depot in Masterton to the new premise on Akura Rd at the end February, 2020.
But, because so many packages had come in, he has moved the couriers early because King St was now “way too small”.
“I’ve got four courier drivers for Masterton and 12 on the rural run,” Smith said.
“I’ve got around eight for the other rural runs.
“There is a courier for each of the other main townships.
“At this time of year, it is full noise.
“These guys are starting any time between 4.30am and 5am in the morning and some are finishing around 8pm in the evening.
“They manage themselves and the demand.
“Our Featherston courier Steve Rogers did 700 deliveries on one day last week and another guy not too far behind him delivered around 600 parcels.”
The posties don’t have to cover their whole area in a day as the post is delivered on alternate days.
The sorting machine in Palmerston North has made the job easier for posties.
It sorts mail by area and then by number so the posties can pick it up and start their deliveries.
Smith doesn’t refer to his team as Santa’s little helpers or elves but acknowledges they pretty much are.
He hasn’t sighted any letters from Santa Claus yet but reckons there are plenty on the way.
