Yodel livery on van

Yodel  delivered over 14 million parcels during the Christmas peak after investing heavily in planning and boosting capacity.

The company added that between 1 December and 24 December only a small number of parcels weren't delivered, in the main where it was unable to gain access to the address or the addressee was unavailable to sign for the delivery.

Yodel began investing in peak planning in the spring, including increasing its capacity by opening temporary service centres and 15 contingency warehouses. It also increased storage at its busiest locations.

Its delivery operation was increased to seven days a week throughout December and it boosted its peak workforce to 16,000 to handle increased volumes.

Temporary workers were recruited earlier than the previous year to ensure extended training.

Planning paid off

Chairman Dick Stead said: “Our planning paid off and, despite flooding in some areas, all of our nationwide service centres were clear at close of play on Christmas Eve, with the exception of a small number of parcels.”

“As always we will be reviewing our peak performance and seeking to work with our retail clients to innovate and further improve the service in 2013.”

Yodel also claimed that it saw a number of clients transfer their volumes over to the firm as other carriers struggled to meet their demands.

In November the firm said that it would cap volumes at a maximum of 4.25m parcels during its busiest week.

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