'We must do better' - An Post
An Post said today that up to a million Christmas cards had not been delivered and admitted: “We must do better.”
A spokesman for An Post also conceded that one of the reasons for the delays was that a lot of the cards were unusually shaped.
The recent introduction of a new modern mail-sorting system designed to cope with regular, business post material rather than square or different shaped cards, late posting and increased volumes were also being blamed.
The Christmas cards and other post are expected to reach their destinations today or tomorrow.
The An Post official said: “We want to apologise to our customers and we share their disappointment – we should have done better.
“It is true that our new system is geared to deal with business mail. The fact that Christmas cards come in lots of different shapes and colours did add to our difficulties.”
The spokesman said more than 80 million items were processed by the company during the pre-Christmas period and that had put the system under pressure.
“We were under pressure and stretched at the end and certainly we should have done better.”
He said the possibility of earlier posting deadlines next year was among issues being considered.
