Amazon plans Post Office deliveries to cope with Christmas crush

Friday, November 28, 2014 - 11:12 by Paul Tissington

With millions of packages and parcels set to swamp the UK’s postal infrastructure this Christmas, there have been many voicing their concerns about the extent to which delivery services will be able to cope.

Amazon is one of the UK’s largest online retailers and has announced that it will be partnering with Post Office outlets across the country, to let people pick up their orders locally, rather than having them delivered direct to their doors.

Royal Mail will be accepting Amazon orders at any of its 10,500 bricks and mortar stores throughout the UK, meaning that consumers can make a purchase via safe shopping online and then head to a nearby branch of the Post Office when it has been delivered.

This is not just a way to help prevent Royal Mail becoming overburdened with home deliveries, but also means that shoppers do not need to wait at home if they want to receive an item which is too large to fit through the letterbox.

The rise of shopping online has meant that home deliveries are now more common than ever, with the run-up to December 25th typically being the busiest period of the year for this kind of activity.

Delivery issues at this time of year can be caused by more than just an influx of online orders, but also adverse weather conditions. And so, now that Amazon has access to a network of over 16,000 local Post Office branches, news agents and other stores to which it can deliver, consumers are less likely to be disappointed.

Royal Mail itself will no doubt be glad that it is able to get more people going into their local Post Office via the Amazon partnership, supporting branches that may have been flagging in recent years.