Icon: enlarge
DHL delivery agent in Frankfurt: "Under full load"
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / picture alliance / dpa
Due to the online order boom, Deutsche Post deliverers should also deliver parcels in the evening in the run-up to Christmas.
In order to safely cope with the large quantities of shipments in the Corona period for everyone, "we work with several waves throughout the day, so that our deliverers will ring more often in the evening in the coming weeks," said Tobias Meyer, Member of the Board responsible for the Post division and parcels, the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Deutsche Post is expecting a record for parcel displays this year.
"For the year as a whole we expect an increase of almost 15 percent compared to the previous year to around 1.8 billion parcels," said Meyer.
The number of letters will meanwhile decrease by around ten percent.
The pre-Christmas period is particularly busy.
"From the end of November to Christmas, we expect three to four very strong weeks with around eleven million shipments on peak days, compared to an average of 5.2 million shipments," said Meyer.
The post will then transport around 50 to 55 million parcels per week and thus "drive under full load".
A freight train from Frankfurt to Düsseldorf
The number of letters and parcels that would then be delivered daily corresponds to "the length of a freight train from Frankfurt am Main to Düsseldorf".
In order to cope with the rush during the Christmas season, 10,000 new employees are to be hired by the end of the year.
Meyer does not rule out possible restrictions for customers in the Christmas business.
"This heavy traffic will certainly be particularly challenging for us because of the restrictions and protective measures caused by Corona," said the board member.
If you want to make sure that your parcel arrives at the recipient on time on Christmas Eve, you have to hand it in by December 19 at 12 noon, said Meyer.
December 22nd is the latest deadline for letters and postcards.
Icon: The mirror
dab / Reuters