MaltaPost has had one of its busiest periods ever over the past couple of weeks. Hampers and bulky items come in hundreds every day and no matter the volume, they are delivered to the recipient like on any other day of the year.
It’s commonly known that the busiest days for all at MaltaPost is during the Christmas season but not everyone is aware of what exactly goes on behind the scenes.
During this festive season, the 476 operations employees are on duty almost round the clock six days a week, with each of them working extra hours in his or her shift.
Extra collections are made and delivery goes on till around 4pm and even 6pm on peak days.
The atmosphere at MaltaPost is a very busy one to make sure the mail is delivered efficiently the following day.
People might think that only Christmas related items are delivered during this period but the mail varies from cards, personal letters and direct advertising to service-related bills, hampers, various electronic equipment, vehicle parts and even blood samples from public health clinics to Mater Dei Hospital, as well as the ever-growing volume of work that comes from contract work and online purchases.
The latter is one of the fastest growing areas in MaltaPost’s portfolio.
MaltaPost is entrusted with around 55 million items annually, with mail volumes more than three times the norm during the peak Christmas period.
Considering that most of the processes are still manual, MaltaPost reaches and exceeds the set standards and receives only one complaint for every 11,500 items handled.
This is only achieved by continuous monitoring of the processes using stringent quality measurements.
Apart from the usual mail, the number of locally posted Christmas cards delivered this year so far have amounted to more than 1.5 million, together with 60,000 bulky items and 2.5 million unaddressed mail items. Hampers ran into thousands.
In this particular period with the euro changeover round the corner, MaltaPost’s Philatelic Bureau, together with Lombard Bank, is also involved in the issue of a special commemorative set of Malta Euro Coins 2008 and Miniature Sheets.
This presentation pack will contain one set of euro coins issued in 2008 and protected in a blister pack, one numbered Malta Lm decimal coinage philatelic Miniature Sheet issued and franked on 31 December, and one numbered Malta Euro coinage philatelic Miniature Sheet issued and franked on 1 January.
This year, MaltaPost’s Christmas stamp set features details from one of Giuseppe Cali’s paintings in St Andrew’s Parish Church in Luqa, “The Nativity”. On this occasion, this Christmas set is being issued as part of a joint issue with the Philatelic and Numismatic Bureau of Vatican City.
The Vatican will feature the same imagery as that shown on the Malta stamps.
Postal workers will not be on duty on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and on New Year’s Day and 2 January.