Rishi has expressed his gratitude for the work of postmen and women as they cope with busiest time of the year for the postal service.
Rishi visited the Royal Mail’s Northallerton delivery office to see the Christmas post operation in action.
He spoke to Northallerton customer operations manager Debra Jones about Royal Mail’s efforts to make sending and receiving parcels as convenient as possible over the festive period by adding more choice.
Rishi was guided through the process, from Royal Mail receiving the letters, to being sorted into respective routes ready for postal workers to deliver across his constituency.
He was then shown how the increase in parcel deliveries are being handled, with Ms Jones explaining the operations behind coping with the increase over the festive period.
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.
Christmas is Royal Mail’s busiest period, with around double the normal volume of letters and parcels processed during the festive period compared with other months as people send Christmas cards and shop for gifts online.
Northallerton Delivery Office has hired five temporary members of staff for the Christmas period to meet increased demand for deliveries in the local area.
Speaking to the staff, Rishi thanked them for all their commitment to ensuring post is delivered throughout the year. He also praised them for their efforts in managing the increased volume over the Christmas period.
Ms Jones said: “It was great to have Rishi visit our Delivery Office, 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.”
Rishi said: “Royal Mail is a crucial part of Christmas in the UK – it wouldn’t be the same without the hard work from all our posties. I’ve got a tremendous amount of appreciation for what they do after seeing how the operation works.”
