Royal Mail And Amazon Create 32,000 Xmas Jobs

More than 30,000 temporary jobs are to be created for the Christmas postal rush, it has been announced.

Royal Mail said it would take on 19,000 additional workers and online retailer Amazon wanted 13,000 staff.

Privatised last October, Royal Mail said the jobs will start in the middle of November and end in January, with the peak staffing period in December.

The roles will be in support of the company’s 124,000 full-time sorting and delivery personnel.

Royal Mail chief operations officer Sue Whalley said: “Christmas is the busiest time of the year for Royal Mail and we plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service to our customers.

An Amazon distribution centre in Scotland
Amazon said it needed thousands of jobs at its warehouses

“Every Christmas, we make a substantial financial commitment in additional resources to handle the festive mailbag, including the recruitment of thousands of temporary workers.”

Meanwhile, Amazon said it needed seasonal roles to be filled at eight warehouses around the country and at its customer service centre in Edinburgh.
Video: Royal Mail Brings Some Xmas Cheer
The announcement comes a week after it said it needed 1,000 new permanent positions at its warehouses.

UK operations director John Tagawa said: “Last year, on the busiest day in the run up to Christmas, our customers ordered 4.1 million items – that’s about 47 items ordered per second.”

It said “hundreds” may end up with permanent positions as a result of the temporary work.

Delivery services have seen a huge demand in recent years amid the rise on online purchasing by consumers.

New services have also been set up to try and alleviate the problem of deliveries when recipients are not at home.

Network Rail launched a 3,000-staff recruitment drive for Doddle, which allows commuters to pick up parcels at train stations.

And Amazon has its own locker pick up points, at certain supermarkets and at some London Underground stations.