Weekend deliveries in place as pre-Christmas demand rises

ONLINE shoppers can now expect to receive their parcels on any day of the week as Australia Post introduces pre-Christmas weekend deliveries.

Saturday and Sunday deliveries began in late November and will continue right up until the weekend before Christmas, depending on volumes.

The service is in place in all metropolitan capitals and major regional centres including Ballarat and Bendigo.

Australia Post’s executive general manager of parcel, post and e-commerce services, Gary Starr, said weekend deliveries would help ensure that customers receive their parcels on time.

Mr Starr said the organisation was expecting a “significant spike” in online spending activity and parcel volumes in the wake of the Black Friday (28 November) and Cyber Monday (1 December) sales events.

“In preparation, we’ve brought on thousands of additional team members and expanded our delivery options – including more self-service parcel lockers and extended post office trading hours – to make collecting parcels easier than ever,” he said.

“Last year we delivered nearly 103 million parcels over the Black Friday sales period, and we’re ready to go even bigger this holiday season.

“Weekend deliveries are just one of the ways Australia Post is stepping up to support our customers during the busiest time of the year.”

Australia Post has also issued advice about sending items before certain dates to increase the likelihood of parcels reaching their destinations before Christmas.

Parcels should be sent by Monday 22 December for same-state deliveries and by Friday 19 December for interstate deliveries.

The deadline for sending items by Express Post is Tuesday 23 December.

The organisation recommends that people sending to or from Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Tasmania or regional and remote locations allow a few extra days for their items to arrive.

The full list of domestic and international sending deadlines is available at auspost.com.ay/christmas.

Australia Post also encourages shoppers to download its app to keep up to date with deliveries as they move through the system.