Royal Mail recruits 1,000 posties to cope with online shopping boom
The Royal Mail has begun a recruitment drive to enlist 1,000 posties after its express package delivery arm, parcelforce, experienced a surge in demand on the back of online shopping.
The boom in business from the likes of Amazon and eBay is reversing years of decline and will see the business expand its workforce by over a fifth, as well as opening a new sorting office at Chorley, Lancashire.
Two new collection and delivery depots are also planned in Cornwall and Hampshire amidst a general upgrade of nine of the organisations 52 depots nationwide. Combined with an overhaul of its IT systems this is expected to create a further 850 new posts.
This is aimed at seeing off competition from commercial rivals such as DHL and TNT.
The sector has been witnessing 6% year-on-year volume growth recently with analysts forecasting that 23% of all retail spending will be conducted online by 2016.
As recently as 2002 Parcelforce was forced to lay-off 6,700 workers amidst a collapse in demand.