Christmas deliveries have Yodel booming

As the festive season gets into full swing its staff are working round the clock to process more than 285,000 parcels a day.

And bosses at delivery giant Yodel today said they expected that amount to almost quadruple over the coming weeks as Christmas approaches.

The company took over the landmark former City Link depot on the Willenhall and Darlaston border in June, employing more than 350 staff.

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During the summer months workers at the Midland Road hub were processing around 140,000 on its busiest days.

But business is booming as Christmas approaches and there are plans in the pipeline to take on an extra 60 drivers.

Malcolm Bird, deputy sort manager, said: "Nearly 286,000 parcels in 20 hours was a major achievement for everyone.

"It's a new site and there's learning curves. It's been challenging, but the team is moving onwards and upwards.

"We want to carry on positively."

Items are brought to the warehouse where they are sorted and redistributed to service centres around the UK, before being sent on to customers.

The parcels are placed on conveyor belts and are separated based on information from labels, with large red helter-skelter chutes helping the process.

Mr Bird said in peak periods leading up to Christmas, staff could be dealing with atound one million parcels a day.

He added: "Everyone thrives when it's busy. You have to adapt and be flexible."

The company was formed in May 2010 after Home Delivery Network bought the domestic business of DHL Express and rebranded it.

It also has hubs in Droitwich, Shaw and Hatfield, and delivers more than 200 million parcels per year with annual revenues of £650m.

Delivering to homes and businesses nationally and internationally, some of its major clients include Asda, Littlewoods and Boden. Yodel announced in October that it planned to closed 45 of its 102 service centres nationwide, including those in Kidderminster, Oldbury, Stoke-on-Trent and Coventry.

A total of 49 jobs are under threat at Oldbury and 73 in Kidderminster, with the closures planned to go ahead early next year. The company says discussions are continuing with trade unions about how the changes will affect workers in the future.

The firm has a fleet of 250 trucks, 1,000 trailers and more than 5,000 delivery vehicles to help carry out its operations.

It makes deliveries for most of the UK's top 200 retailers.

The company has also teamed up with PayPoint to operate a Collect+ service, where parcels are dropped off and picked up from convenience stores.