Postal workers who have been working around the clock to deliver everyone’s Christmas presents on time dealt with their busiest day of the year today.
Around 11,000 staff at Royal Mail offices across the country worked feverishly into the night to process millions of packages, presents and cards before the last recommended posting date of December 20.
Royal Mail employees at the Altens Mail Centre in Aberdeen have been working 24/7 to ensure that all the Christmas mail is delivered to people celebrating the festive season all across the north-east and Shetland.
Altens plant manager David Noble said: “It’s a 24 hour operation. We cover everything from Laurencekirk in the south, all the way up to Buckie, Huntly and Keith, and we also serve the Shetland Isles as well.
“It’s going really well just now, at this time of year the things that can make a difference to us are the likes of the weather, but we’ve been very fortunate so far in that we’ve not had weather bad enough to delay our services and everything is running to plan.
“December 17 is our peak arrival day, we’ve had more than 700 cages of mail come in and we’re going to be handling around 800,000 items in Aberdeen, and of that around 70,000 are parcels.
“There’s bits of tinsel around here and there, and we’ve got the Christmas music blaring, so it’s quite an upbeat atmosphere.
“We’ve got so many long-serving people that have done this many times before, and we’ve got an additional 80 seasonal workers here purely for the month of December.
“They’ve been working extended hours, Saturday and Sunday night shifts, so it’s a seven days a week operation for our staff.”
Emily Morrison, 23, is one of the “Christmas Casuals” working at the mail centre this December.
She said: “I’ve just finished university back in the summer, I was studying math in St Andrews and I’ve since moved back up here with my parents.
“It was quite tough in the beginning, but once you get used to it it’s not as bad, I’ve even managed to lose six pounds since I started here because you’re on your feet all day, which is obviously good.
“It’s good fun and I’m enjoying it, but I cannot wait for Christmas Day.”
