Christmas blowout: Australia Post tipped for record-breaking day

Australia Post will experience its busiest day in history on Monday, with close to three million parcels delivered to excited Aussies in the lead up to Christmas.

Posties, drivers and mail and parcel sorters will be run off their feet as they make sure Australians across the country receive their presents before the big day, which is very quickly approaching.

In just the last week, Australia Post delivered more than 10 million parcels, with a total of 40 million parcel deliveries predicted for the whole of December – around three million more than last year.

Australia Post Group Operating Officer Bob Black believes the increase is linked to the growth of online shopping with a wide variety of gifts purchased via the internet. He said that Australians were shopping mainly from local retailers, with the falling Australian dollar helping increase the proportion of online purchases to more than 70 per cent of delivered parcels.

“The most popular Christmas gifts among Australian online shoppers include toys and games, fashion and jewellery, and homewares and appliances along with health and beauty products,” Black explained.

“As well as record parcel numbers, Christmas cards are popular too, with posties delivering millions of Christmas letters and greeting cards during December.”

Read more: Send your Christmas letters and parcels by these dates so they arrive in time

With the influx of deliveries and last minute rushes to the post office, Australia Post has put in place many measures to ensure nobody is left without a present this Christmas.

The postal service has installed a further 13 parcel lockers, hired close to 3,000 extra people to deal with record volumes and will keep over 170 retail outlets open longer.

Australia Post also has air freighters operating every night for express services and 16,000 vehicles operating daily.

For those who haven’t managed to make it to the post office yet, Australia Post advises sending your packages via express post this late in the game. 

However, time is quickly running out with December 21 the last day available to send parcels via express if you want them to arrive on time.

Sadly at this time of the year there are a lot of scams doing the rounds with one in particular targeting unsuspecting victims.

Last month the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) issued a warning to Aussies about an email, which includes branding from Australia Post, that had tricked people into thinking that a delivery was attempted when they weren’t home.

In some cases, the email may threaten to charge you a fee for holding your “undeliverable item”, and will ask you to open an attachment, click a link or download a file to retrieve your parcel.

If you follow these instructions, you will likely download a ransomware virus the locks your computer.

Read more: The Australia Post parcel scam targeting innocent Aussies this Christmas

To unlock your computer, scammers may demand payment in the form of bitcoins or wire transfer, however, even if you pay the fee, there is no guarantee that you will be able to access your computer again.

“Australia Post will never call you out of the blue to request payment or send you an email asking you to click on an attachment. If you receive an email about an undeliverable package, don’t open any attachments or download files – delete it straight away,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.

Typically, Australia Post will leave a calling card in your mail box if you aren’t home with instructions on where to collect or when they will reattempt delivery. If you are suspicious about a missed parcel delivery email, call the company directly to verify the correspondence is genuine.

Have you finished Christmas shopping yet? Have you sent gifts to loved ones across the country yet?