Customers urged not to panic about postal delays

MAIL DELIVERIES:AN POST has said the bad weather is hampering deliveries of mail in the run-up to Christmas but that it is doing everything possible to maintain the service.

A spokeswoman for An Post said its workers were working “flat out” to get as many deliveries as possible completed before Christmas Day.

However, while advising the public not to panic if they have not received any post recently, head of corporate communications Anna McHugh said delays were likely given the conditions affecting much of the country.

Typically, An Post delivers between 2.5 million and three million items every day. This more than doubles in the fortnight leading up to Christmas.

“Mail volumes have been particularly heavy of late because of the cold snap a few weeks back, which meant that people didn’t get organised as early as they usually would,” she said.

“People shouldn’t panic about not getting their packages but in some instances deliveries will be long and late.”

Ms McHugh said An Post had deliveries out in every part of the country this week but that it was struggling to reach people in regions such as west Cork, parts of Leinster and in the northwest.

“In general we’ve been able to get most of the mail through the main centres and out to local delivery offices. Luckily our staff around the country know their areas and therefore know alternative routes to try to reach people,” she said.

“The icy roads remain the key problem for us because that is slowing everything down but we are doubling up with staff going out together to help each other out and big community efforts under way. There are some isolated and high-lying areas that are particularly dangerous,” she added.

Earlier this week, Royal Mail said it intended to add extra evening deliveries in the North to cope with the weather-related backlog.