Beat the festive rush... Mail your gifts early!

Sunday 08 November 2020

While covid has ruined many plans this year, Jersey Post is determined to not let it ruin Christmas and is urging islanders to send their parcels early to ensure all trees are well-stocked come 25 December.

Significant delays are expected due to the impact of the pandemic on postal routes while the numbers of incoming eCommerce parcels are set to hit record highs.

So far this year, Jersey Post has delivered over 3.5m parcels locally. This included a 60% increase in parcel volumes during the period from April to July as a result of the pandemic.

Jersey Post expects to see a similar increase during November and December and is therefore encouraging islanders who are planning to shop online and send parcels to family and friends this festive period to get ready as early as possible to ensure items arrive in time for Christmas.

Pictured: The number of parcels delivered between April and July was up 60% compared to the same period last year.

“There is an unprecedented demand for home deliveries which has been fuelled by the impact of the pandemic," Niall McClure, Jersey Post’s Managing Director for Postal and Logistics, said.

"Given the large volumes of traffic we’ve experienced already this year, we as a business will be stretched to over full capacity but have measures in place to deal with the increase.

"For those customers choosing to order online this Christmas, we advise ordering sooner rather than later as online retailers and delivery agents are experiencing record peak volumes worldwide.”

Pictured: This year's Christmas stamps will be reduced from 23 November to 4 December.

Jersey Post is also reminding islanders that individual countries currently have different levels of mail service regulations which could pose even more challenges in processing and delivering items during the peak period.

To encourage islanders to post early and to keep in touch with relatives overseas, Jersey Post will be reducing the cost of its Christmas themed stamps, which this year feature local festive scenes, from Monday 23 November until Friday 4 December.

To avoid the Christmas mail delays for parcels arriving into the island, Jersey Post is also encouraging islanders to use its recently-acquired online marketplace, Fetch.je, to shop for local produce and services.