Post Office gearing up for pre-Christmas returns
Following record sales over the Black Friday weekend, the Post Office has announced that it is bracing itself for its busiest festive season ever for handling online shopping returns. This coming weekend is expected to be busiest for pre-Christmas returns – leading the Post Office to dub it ‘Send-back Saturday’ (12th December) – as two thirds of shoppers are predicted to return unwanted items.
Throughout the UK, over £160m of Black Friday stock is expected to be sent back during the Christmas period (this is according to a recent survey from Clear Returns, which Post&Parcel wrote about on 20 November).
In a statement sent to Post&Parcel today (10 December), Post Office said that it has boosted its resources with an extra 600 ‘Christmas Makers’ to help its customers get Christmas sorted.
“In addition,” said Post Office, “more than 500 Self Service Kiosks at Post Office branches, which already offered access to a wide range of Royal Mail services, now have the facility for people to return home shopping items, including Royal Mail Tracked Returns, without the need to visit the Post Office counter.”
Furthermore, 3,000 Post Office branches will be open on Sundays.
According to the Post Office statement: “The Post Office’s commitment to longer opening hours will result in branches around the UK opening for an extra 500,000 more hours this festive season, ensuring people will have access to a Post Office when it is convenient for them. With Post Offices opening for longer than ever before, some even open 24 hours a day, it will now be easier for customers to visit and get their Christmas errands sorted.”
Pete Markey, Chief Marketing Officer, Post Office, added: ‘We are ready for the busy festive period and expecting our busiest Christmas season ever for online shopping returns. Shoppers spent a huge £3.3bn over the Black Friday weekend – a 36% increase on last year. And, as 72% of online shoppers prefer to return via the Post Office, it is vital for us to ramp up resources not just for returns but also other in-branch services to help get Christmas sorted.”
