ROYAL Mail staff in Bangor will work right up to the 11th hour on Christmas Eve to ensure December 25 is a happy day for everyone this year.
We paid a visit to the Royal Mail Delivery Office on Euston Road last week to see first hand how the area’s postmen and women deal with the huge influx in parcels and cards.
The sorting office will distribute parcels and letters to 24,000 homes and businesses across the southern stretch of Anglesey, including Beaumaris, Llangoed and Llanddona, and to Bangor, Felinheli and the surrounding areas before Christmas.
Manager Gwynfor Jones, who has worked 27 years with the organisation and has been in charge of the Bangor office for three years, said his team are seeing more parcels than ever this year.
He said: “It is obviously very busy at this time of year.
“Everything that comes into us here goes out on the same day.”
The postmen and women at the Bangor Delivery Office will hit 80 per cent of houses in the area every day in the run up to Christmas.
Gwynfor added: “We’ll get more people in on nights and a lot of it is relying on the staff’s good will because they want to please the customers, especially over Christmas.
“People do get stressed and the weather does make a difference when it’s particularly cold or grim - it can be hard on some people.
“Christmas makes us as a business and everyone here pulls together to make it work and work on time.”
Postman Ian Stenson, aged 44, has worked for the Royal Mail for 24 years and has delivered the post in Penmon on Anglesey for the last four years.
He said: “It’s mad with parcels at this time of year, especially with things like Amazon and eBay.
“It is a big increase, which does make it harder.
“But we all kind of manage.”
Ian starts at 7am and works until 3pm, but may stay longer if needed.
“You do kind of expect it,” he said.
“You are tired at the end of the day but we all manage.”
