A Covid-related staff shortage in Napier is putting pressure on NZ Post during their busiest time of year.

Jenny Nikora, NZ Post’s regional manager of East Coast and Central, said there have been delivery delays to some parts of Napier - specifically the Napier South and Mataruahou/Bluff Hill areas - as a result.

 “All our people are working extremely hard to deliver parcels to Kiwis at our busiest time of year in the lead-up to Christmas – it’s our top priority,” Nikora said.

“Like many communities and workplaces in Aotearoa, we have been affected by a recent wave of Covid infections, and it’s unfortunate this has coincided with our busy peak delivery time.”

She said NZ Post had taken on extra workers to help meet the demands for increased parcel delivery.

“We’re doing our absolute best to ensure we get parcels delivered in time for Christmas,” she said.

 “We thank our Napier customers for their patience.”

In February, NZ Post announced it had employed hundreds more staff to keep up with demand as it prepared for a sustained Omicron outbreak.

The pandemic has had a massive impact on online shopping over the last two years, and NZ Post has continued to increase capacity to meet the demand for parcel delivery.

NZ Post chief operating officer Brendon Main said: “We brought on 800 extra people at the end of last year to deliver over 50 million parcels in the last six months of the year. It was the biggest Christmas in history for NZ Post, and we worked really hard to scale-up and deliver for Kiwis.”

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But Main said at the time that a sustained Omicron outbreak would mean different challenges for NZ Post.

“We’re preparing for both an increase in demand for parcel delivery, as well as a decrease in resources, as it’s likely that at any given time some of our workforces will be unwell or self-isolating,” he said.

NZ Post’s Napier branch handled and then delivered 24,500 parcels from Waipukurau to Gisborne in a single week in December of last year - during NZ Post’s busiest Christmas rush on record.