Online shopping growth prompts parcel delivery employment increase

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - 09:04 by Graham Miller

Across the UK, various companies are getting ready for the festive shopping period, which is typically the busiest of the year.

The Mirror reports that Parcelforce, which is part of the Royal Mail, is taking on an extra 1,000 members of staff over the next few months, although its expansion is not just a temporary seasonal precaution, but a representation of a more permanent trend.

Parcelforce is spending 75 million between now and 2016, to expand its operations and improve its service across the country, with its current staff of 5,300 being expanded by almost a fifth.

New depots are being established in a number of locations and it has seen its revenues and parcel numbers grow over the past year, with 66 million individual items of post handled in the 12 months to April 2012.

Fewer letters are being sent than ever, but the rise in safe shopping online means that larger parcels are far more common and allowed the group to secure 23 million in profit.

The market for parcel delivery has grown along with e-commerce, allowing billions of pounds a year to be pumped into these firms, as more and more people choose to shop online, rather than on the high street.

There are some critics who point out that the Royal Mail has actually had to make cutbacks over the past two years, resulting in thousands of job losses that eclipse the number of positions that will be created, as a result of the Parcelforce expansion.

However, it seems that safe shopping online is going to be a vital component of the delivery industry going forwards, since fewer letters are being sent and more people are going paper-free in their everyday lives, to save on clutter and waste.