Christmas spirit helps Australia Post smash parcel delivery record

It’s been a bumper Christmas for Australia Post, with more parcels delivered by air this year than ever before.

A total of 52 million parcels were delivered during the December peak period, and volumes in October and November were also up on previous years.

At the peak of the operation, Australia Post had 25 dedicated air freighters taking to the skies every night, shifting a total 8.7 million kilos of parcels. On the busiest day in December, 556 tonnes of parcels were moved.

Group chief executive officer and managing director Paul Graham said many months had been spent in preparation for delivering a great Christmas. A fleet of 25 dedicated air freighters helped deliver a total 8.7 million kilos of parcels. Picture: Mark Stewart

“That we have seen another 52 million parcels delivered at Christmas demonstrates the dedication of the people in our Post Offices, our Licensed Post Office Partners, and everyone working across our processing, delivery, customer teams, including more than 5000 new team members who helped make it possible,” Mr Graham said.

“We thank Australians for their patience and support during these challenging times, and with so many customers heeding our call to shop and send early, we saw a really big November for both deliveries and online shopping ahead of our traditional December peak.”

Proving the postal service can still be a hands on experience, over 20 million Australians visited an Australian Post outlet in person to send cards and gifts and collect packages.

Modern conveniences like online shopping and parcel tracking helped Aussies navigate the busy Christmas period. Picture: Kelly Barnes / NCA NewsWire

The number of online purchases rose 1.5 per cent year-on-year from 2020, and was 37.5 per cent more than in 2019, with more than 5.6 million Australian households shopping for loved ones online.

Taking advantage of new technologies on offer, Australians also managed their deliveries through Australia Post’s app and website in record numbers.

The site clocked more than 83 million visits, while almost 5 million new ETA (estimated time of arrival) alerts helped Aussies plan a busy Christmas by notifying customers of the two-hour window parcels were due to arrive ahead of Christmas.