Royal Mail recruits ‘address detectives’
Royal Mail prepares to handle more than 300 million poorly addressed and written Christmas cards and letters during the busy festive period.
Royal Mail prepares to handle more than 300 million poorly addressed and written Christmas card and letters during the busy festive period.
Royal Mail expects to deliver more than two billion items over the festive period but estimates more than 300 million cards and letters will not be able to be read by its automated sorting machinery either because the postcode has not been included, the item has been poorly addressed or the handwriting style is difficult to read.
But more than 3,800 “address detectives” have been recruited for the festive season to support the 1,100-strong team who will decipher the addresses of items that cannot be read automatically so that the letters can still be processed by the sorting machinery rather than by hand.
Roy Allen, General Manager of the address detectives, said: “Mail volumes almost double on peak days in December and it is important that people properly address their Christmas cards and use the postcode. Letters and cards that have clearly written addresses and a postcode can be read by our machines and handled 20 times faster than by hand.
He added: “Many of millions of items of mail handled by Royal Mail every year are incorrectly or poorly addressed but are still delivered to the right recipients thanks to the hard work, local knowledge and dedication of postmen and women across the UK.
