Australia Post Tries to Maintain Service Levels in Victoria by Delivering 7 Days a Week

Australia Post said posties and delivery drivers are set to deliver as many as 350,000 parcels across Victoria each and every weekend for the rest of the year.

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In addition, Australia Post facilities in Melbourne are processing an average of a million parcels each day, enough to fill the seats of the MCG ten times.

While the impacts of COVID have been particularly challenging in Melbourne, with hundreds of Australia Post team members forced to isolate and facilities subject to COVID-safe restrictions, posties and drivers continue to deliver record numbers of parcels for Victorians, including each Saturday and Sunday.

Australia Post has also added six additional pop-up sites to process parcels at Dandenong, Somerton, Tottenham, Thomastown and two at Derrimut. Two of its biggest permanent facilities at Sunshine West are processing more than 450,000 parcels a day.

To counter a significant reduction in passenger flights, Australia Post has also doubled its weekly freighter flights into Victoria to 60, to help carry more than 340 tons of parcels a week, with another 32 tons arriving via extra weekly Express Post trucks.

Around one thousand additional team members are also being recruited in Victoria to help sort parcels and mail, drive forklifts, delivery vans and trucks, and to help customers with their queries.

Australia Post’s Decision to Pause Parcel Collection Helped Ease Backlog

Australia Post General Manager Corporate Affairs Michelle Skehan said the difficult decision to pause parcel collections from eCommerce retailers in Greater Melbourne had been vital in returning volumes in Victorian facilities to safe levels, with 4.5 million parcels processed during that time, while deliveries continued across the city.

“We haven’t stopped delivering and have broken delivery records throughout the pandemic even as we’ve been faced with challenges like having large numbers of our Melbourne people in isolation.”

Michelle Skehan, Australia Post General Manager Corporate Affairs

“We recognize that people want their parcels to arrive as quickly as possible, especially as we head into Christmas, and that means on weekends too, and our people really are doing all they can to meet the huge demand under challenging times,” Shekan added.

Weekend deliveries will remain across Melbourne and major regional centers for the rest of the year, and where volumes are high in other regional areas.

The Australia Post mobile app is the best way to keep across deliveries, choose the best place to receive parcels, and to stay updated about impacts to the network.

International Inbound Shipments Still a Problem

Despite Australia Post’s best efforts, the United States Postal Service and Canada Post continue with their suspension of most air mail shipments to the country. Royal Mail also warns customers of significant delays for shipments to Australia.