An Post review mail routes

VOLUME Letters halved but parcel post growing rapidly

Close to 4,000 mail delivery routes, including in Cavan and Meath, are set to be revised over the coming 18 months as the volume of letters has halved but parcels are growing at an unprecedented rate.

An Post says that any “possible impact on staff numbers” arising from the reconfiguration “will be dealt with in the normal way”.

That includes through retirement, redeployment and other avenues.

An Post assures that the proposed changes are being done in “full agreement” with the Communications Workers Union, which represents postal workers.

“Some of that is being done in both Cavan and Meath and our delivery units in Cavan and Navan,” a spokesperson for the national delivery service confirmed.

“Over the next 18 months or so we are re-shaping 4,000 routes nationwide. Everything we are doing is based on our own data, close analysis and the wealth of knowledge we have built up over the years,” says An Post of its plans to “completely” redesign mail routes, as well as adjust “some of our schedules and changing the way we work”.

“Some routes and duties in both Cavan and Navan are changing. But everything being done in co-operation with our staff and with the full agreement of the Communications Workers Union. Any possible impact on staff numbers will be dealt with in the normal way - retirement, redeployment etc as always.”

The reason for the changes, the spokesperson states, is partly due to a halving of letter volumes in recent years, and with parcel volumes “running at unprecedented high levels and continuing to grow. Customers want the minimum time between making an online order it being delivered to their door. Equally many of our town and villages have changed as populations have shifted or road layouts developed.”

The spokesperson added: “It is impossible for our postmen and postwomen to deliver multiple parcels by bike alone. Our e-vans are the best and most efficient option. Equally many of our routes were designed at a time when the streetscape and population density of many of our towns and cities were very different from today.”

The spokesperson concluded that the overall “aim is an efficient service, matched to what our customers need, and lighter impact on the planet”.

“The application of any change programme will always have elements that need to be worked out ‘on the ground’ so to speak. Change can be difficult but nothing that cannot be worked out with the staff involved.”