Royal Mail will open a total of 225 delivery offices on Sundays during December to offer more convenience to its customers picking up parcels

This includes around 100 delivery offices that are already open on Sundays all year round

An additional 125 delivery offices have been selected across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland due to their high parcel volumes

Royal Mail offers extended opening hours for Christmas in around 1,200 delivery offices in the main cities and towns in the UK. Christmas opening hours details are available in each delivery office

Royal Mail's 1,400 delivery offices currently open six days a week. Almost half already open later on Wednesday evenings for customers to collect items

The extra opening days and hours are part of Royal Mail's substantial financial commitment at Christmas to handle the festive mail bag

This includes recruiting 19,000 seasonal workers and opening ten additional parcel sort centres

Customers are reminded to post early for Christmas and post by the recommended UK posting dates of 19 December 2015 for Second Class mail, 21 December 2015 for First Class mail and 23 December 2015 for Special Delivery items.

Customers should ensure they use the postcode when sending their cards and parcels

  • Royal Mail will open a total of 225 delivery offices on Sundays during December to offer more convenience to its customers picking up parcels
  • This includes around 100 delivery offices that are already open on Sundays all year round
  • An additional 125 delivery offices have been selected across the UK due to their high parcel volumes
  • Royal Mail offers extended opening hours for Christmas in around 1,200 delivery offices in the main cities and towns in the UK. Christmas opening hours details are available in each delivery office
  • Royal Mail's 1,400 delivery offices currently open six days a week. Almost half already open later on Wednesday evenings for customers to collect items
  • The extra opening days and hours are part of Royal Mail's substantial financial commitment at Christmas to handle the festive mail bag
  • This includes recruiting 19,000 seasonal workers and opening ten additional parcel sort centres
  • Customers are reminded to post early for Christmas and post by the recommended UK posting dates of 19 December 2015 for Second Class mail, 21 December 2015 for First Class mail and 23 December 2015 for Special Delivery items.
  • Customers should ensure they use the postcode when sending their cards and parcels

Royal Mail will open a total of 225 delivery offices on Sunday for the month of December to help with the Christmas rush and to offer more convenience to customers picking up parcels.

An additional 125 of the busiest delivery offices with the highest parcel volumes across the UK will open during the four weeks in December in the run up to Christmas Day. They will complement around 100 offices already open on Sundays all year round.

There will also be a range of extended opening hours from Mondays to Saturdays for Christmas in around 1,200 delivery offices across the UK. Christmas opening hour details are available in each delivery office.

Extended Christmas delivery office opening is part of Royal Mail's substantial financial commitment at Christmas to handle the festive mail bag.

Sue Whalley, Royal Mail's Chief Operations Officer, said: 'Opening some of our busiest delivery offices on Sundays all year round has been a great success. In these offices, Sundays is one of the most popular days for parcel collection by our customers. We are delighted to open even more offices to help everyone in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day. '

Some of Royal Mail's delivery offices are opening until 5pm on Christmas Eve.

Customer initiatives

Around 90 per cent of mail is delivered first time by Royal Mail. Delivery to home remains the UK consumer's preferred way to receive a parcel. Through Delivery to Neighbour and Nominate a Neighbour, postmen and women will try to deliver to a local neighbour if a customer is not at home. Customers can also now nominate a specific neighbour as a preferred delivery option.

If a customer is not at home for initial delivery, they can request that their items are redelivered to their own address or another address in the same postcode area, free of charge, Monday to Saturday. By teaming up with Post Office to offer the UK's largest click and collect service, Local Collect, online shoppers also have the option to collect parcels from some delivery offices in the UK and from 10,500 Post Office branches.

Ends

For further information contact:

Royal Mail press office

0203 3381007

Christmas 2015 and New Year Bank Holiday 2016 opening hours

Royal Mail will be operating extended seasonal delivery and increasing customer collection services until Christmas Eve. This includes more than 400 Delivery Offices remaining open until 5pm. for parcel collection on Thursday December 24 2015.

In 2015, Boxing Day (26 December), which is typically a UK-wide Bank Holiday, falls on a Saturday. In Scotland, 2 January 2016, is a Scotland-wide Bank Holiday and also falls on a Saturday. When this has happened previously, (1998 and 2009), Royal Mail has historically received very low volumes of USO mail for delivery. We have consulted with the Communication Workers Union and Ofcom has now agreed that we can be exempt from our USO obligations on these two days.

Across the UK, there will be no delivery services or Customer Service Points open from Friday 25 December 2015 to Monday 28 December 2015 inclusive. Normal mail services will recommence on Tuesday 29 December until Thursday 31 December 2015. There will be no deliveries or Customer Service Points open on Friday 1 January 2016 across the UK, or in Scotland on Saturday 2 January 2016. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, normal mail services will resume on Saturday 2 January 2016, and in Scotland, they will restart on Monday 4 January 2016.

Royal Mail recognises that many online shoppers will order items for delivery after Christmas Day. The business has been working with a number of large customers to support them during this period. Royal Mail will continue to run its network operation throughout the holiday weekends to ensure that mail is ready for normal deliveries on Tuesday 29 December 2015 and Monday 4 2016.

Further information is available at www.royalmail.com/greetings .

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