It was such a pleasure to visit Royal Mail’s Sarisbury Green Delivery Office to pass on Christmas wishes and thanks to staff at their busiest time of year.
I was shown around the Sarisbury Green office by Delivery Office Manager Brian Gunter, and was introduced to the postmen and women who are working hard sorting and delivering mail in the Sarisbury Green area during the Festive season. I took along a large box of chocolates as a Christmas gift for staff to share. The Government recently completed the sale of its remaining stake in Royal Mail, whose workforce now own around 12 per cent of the company.
A huge amount of effort and dedication goes into delivering the post at Christmas, which is obviously Royal Mail’s busiest time of year. So it was great to meet the teams at Sarisbury Green to thank them for all they do. Our postal workers do such an important job all year round, so it was a great opportunity to talk to some of them about their work.
It has been a challenging period for Royal Mail in recent years, with so many changes in the sector, increased competition and the rise of online retail all having an effect - but it is clear the company is in good shape. The recent government sale of shares was a great success, with staff now having a stake in the business and seeing it grow. I think that’s hugely important, and I could see the dedication and pride in all those I met.
In December, Royal Mail estimates its trucks and vans will be covering around 16 million miles, delivering to 27 million homes and 2 million businesses across the UK. Royal Mail will also run an additional 113 flights and 20 extra rail movements through December to accommodate the seasonal volumes. Around 19,000 temporary workers have been employed and 10 parcel centres have been opened to deal with the increase in parcels at the busiest time of the year. Last year, Royal Mail processed and delivered over 120 million parcels in December alone.
Brian Gunter, Royal Mail Delivery Office Manager at Sarisbury Green, commented:
‘Our postmen and women are working extremely hard to deliver Christmas cards, letters and parcels to people across Sarisbury Green. We are grateful that Suella visited the office to see our operation and to support the team.
‘We’d like to remind our customers to post early so that friends and family have longer to enjoy their Christmas greetings. We would also like to ask everyone to please always use the postcode as this helps us greatly in the job that we do at this busy time.’