Royal Mail is extending the opening hours of almost 1,400 delivery offices until Christmas to make it even easier for people to collect online orders that could not be delivered because no one was at home.

The move was announced on Royal Mail’s busiest day during the festive period. Royal Mail expects to handle around 130 million today – more than double the normal daily mailbag of 59 million items. In total, Royal Mail expects to handle a festive mailbag of around two billion items.

Royal Mail has extended the opening hours of its delivery offices to make it even easier for people to collect items that could not be delivered first time, either because a signature was required or it was too big to be posted through the letterbox.

Information on the opening times of a local office are displayed on a card posted through the letterbox if an item cannot be delivered. The busiest offices will be open from 6.30am to 7.30pm during the week and 6.30am and 5.30pm on Saturday. Around 600 delivery offices will continue to open until 8pm on a Wednesday as part of a year-round initiative introduced in 2010.

Customers not at home when delivery is attempted can also ask for items to be redelivered to their home or a neighbouring address. Around 10,000 Post Office branches also offer collection facilities for items that could not be delivered first time.

Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s Managing Director of Fulfilment and Packets, said: “Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd have an unrivalled collection network of approaching 11,400 offices. This scale and reach, serving communities across the UK, means that people who are not at home to receive deliveries of presents they have bought online can collect the items when it is convenient for them.”

Source: Royal Mail

published December 16th, 2011