Finnish Posti is preparing for a record Christmas peak season with volumes of up to 2 million parcels a week passing through its network.

Research by the postal operator suggests that Black Friday is likely to see parcel volumes grew by 150% as against 2019. “We predict that the coming shopping days and Christmas shopping will take place online even more than before. If our forecasts are correct, we will deliver almost 1.5 million weekly parcels during the peak season and, at most, almost two million parcels a week. In the current situation, many customers want to avoid busy stores and order shopping directly to their homes instead. Our Doorstep service has been extremely popular, and I believe that the demand will increase, especially if the COVID-19 situation gets worse,” says Tommi Kässi, Vice President, Parcel and eCommerce at Posti.

As well as bringing in 2,500 temporary staff, Posti has looked at improving the efficiency of the network. Weekend deliveries are to begin soon, while a parcel pick-up/drop off (PUDO) network of 850 convenience stores, 2,200 parcel lockers and an additional 200 temporary PUDO points to be put in place across the country.

“We have increased our pick-up point capacity by more than 30 percent this year. We are doing everything in our power so that as many people as possible receive their parcels at the location they have chosen. Unfortunately, if parcel lockers are full, some parcels will have to be redirected to the second nearest available pick-up point instead of the nearest one. This means the recipient will receive their parcel faster. We hope that parcels are picked up as soon as possible from the notice of arrival to free up space for other parcels,” says Kässi.