Delivery services, especially express delivery, are working hard in HCM City to meet the surge in demand for delivering goods in the run-up to Tet (Lunar New Year).

A post office staffer checks codes on packages. 

The volume of goods handled by post offices and private delivery companies has been increasing enormously.

North-South Delivery Company said the volume of goods it is delivering is up 30-40 per cent from normal days, and so it has expanded its payroll and employees are working overtime.

Tran Thi Thu Trang, owner of a clothing shop in District 3, said orders have doubled or tripled compared to normal days and she uses private delivery companies.

Nguyen Huu Thinh, deputy director of Vietnam Post’s HCM City office, told the Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper that delivery volumes are double compared to normal days.

Post offices have hired more workers and vehicles to meet the demand, he said.

Bùi Quang Minh, owner of a garment factory in Tân Bình District, said, “I received a complaint from a customer that a parcel arrived a week late because of delayed delivery by a private company.”

So now he only uses the post office or buses to reduce delays and ensure parcels are undamaged, he said. In Viet Nam, passenger buses offer delivery services, with receivers required to come to the bus station to pick up their parcels.

Nguyen Trong Quynh, director of Phuc Thuan Thao Co Ltd’s HCM City office, said last December just before the New Year, his company had hired many additional buses to both carry passengers and deliver goods, whose volume had seen a huge increase.

Post office deadlines

For delivery before Tet, which falls on February 16 this year, the post office has stipulated a deadline for receiving parcels of February 10 if the sender is in the city and February 9 for outlying areas.

In case of express delivery, it has set a deadline of February 12 if the sender is an individual and February 11 for others.

Parcels received after the deadlines will be delivered only after February 21. — VNS