Australia Post has delivered 52 million parcels delivered through the December peak with more packages moving by air than ever before.
More than 5.6 million Australian households shopped online to spoil friends and family in the lead-up to Christmas Day.
Volumes in October and November were higher than in previous years, demonstrating a desire to plan ahead and shop early.
Australia Post had up to 25 dedicated freighters taking to the skies each night, and more than 8.7 million kilos of parcels were flown across the country throughout December – up 13 per cent on the previous year.
Australians managed their deliveries through Australia Post’s app and website in record numbers, with more than 83 million visits, while almost five million new ETA (estimated time of arrival) alerts in December by notifying customers of the two-hour window parcels were to arrive ahead of Christmas.
More than 20 million customers visited post offices to send cards and gifts and collect packages, including more than 3.9 million from PO boxes, while more than 475,000 items were also collected from Australia Post’s free parcel lockers around the country during December, the most ever in a month.
Group chief executive officer Paul Graham said despite the continuing challenges presented by the pandemic, the entire Australia Post team had delivered a great Christmas for Australians.
“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 5,000 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.”
Among the top online buys for Christmas were books which were up more than 22 per cent and pharmacy items, up more than nine per cent on the previous month.
