A LETTERKENNY parcel delivery business has taken on eight drivers as the company struggles to keep up with ‘unprecedented’ demand due to the coronavirus crisis.
DPD said parcel volumes were up over 100 percent compared to last year as more people shopped online during the past month, coinciding with a period when many consumers reduced their outings in light of the escalating Covid-19 pandemic.
CEO and Managing Director Mary Forde, who owns the DPD franchise in Donegal with her husband Gerard, said up to 3,000 parcels were being sent each day, with the majority being simply too large to be delivered by a ‘traditional postie.’
She said employing eight people on a part-time basis to deliver parcels via vans would allow them to carry more and relieve some of the pressure on existing parcel delivery drivers who have been swamped by demand.
“It will also enable parcels to be delivered every operational day across the county,” she said.
“Our people want to serve our county at this difficult and challenging time.”
Last month, 18 vans would leave the company depot every day at Curraghleas, Letterkenny, to make deliveries across Donegal. Today they have 26 vans on the road.
“We’ve had the franchise for the past sixteen years and this is as busy as we’ve ever been. Since Donegal went into lockdown we’ve seen a one hundred per cent increase on deliveries.
“Normally, we would deliver 1,400 to 1,500 parcels a day. Now we’re hitting an average of 2,800 with up to 4,000 on a Monday. We’ve employed extra eight staff on a part-time basis to help cover that additional workload,” Mrs Forde said.
There has been a marked increase in the number of parcels sent between family members to cover birthdays and anniversaries as well as a spike in online clothes shopping.
Donegal DPD also deliver products to hospitals and chemist shops throughout Donegal on a daily basis.
“Traditionally, Christmas is our busiest period. From Black Friday to December 24 – a four week period but we’ve seen a slight increase in that over the past month. It would be up ten per cent on our Christmas figures,” she said.
“Parcel sizes are limited to 30 kilogrammes but we’re doing a lot of play items – outside toys – and stationary with parents buying school books, crayons and paints for their children,” she added.
DPD are now Ireland’s largest dedicated parcel delivery company with 33 depots throughout the country handling in excess of 19 million parcels per year.
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