An Post has seen a massive surge in packages arriving at mail depots this year, as the popularity of online shopping continues to rise.

Deliveries faced a two-day delay earlier this week as a result of an unprecedented rise in parcel volumes.

According to An Post, Amazon deliveries alone were almost five times higher compared to what they’re used to at Christmas.

“During the peak pre-Christmas season which starts in early November, An Post would normally receive four 40 foot trucks of parcels each night from Amazon,” Anna McHugh, head of communications at An Post told Independent.ie.

“This year, we were receiving 22 forty foot trucks all packed with parcels every day – and that was just from Amazon – multiples of what we (or they) were forecasting.”

Ms McHugh said they noticed a rise among Irish companies, particularly gifts from the fashion, toys and homewares sectors.

The company also noticed an increase in people signing up to their AddressPal system, which allows consumers to ship items from countries like the US that don’t normally deliver to Irish shores.

“More than 200,000 Irish customers have registered for An Post’s AddressPal service, and we’ve handled almost 1.5 million AddressPal items for our customers,” she said.

As the cut off date for online shopping comes to an end this week, the remaining days will see a surge in last-minute Christmas cards being delivered before Christmas Day.

She ensured consumers that despite a two-day delay earlier this week, customers will still arrive their packages before Christmas.

“As a result of volumes  we had delays of about two days on some deliveries earlier this month but thanks to an huge effort by all our staff,  everything received into An Post on time, will be delivered before Christmas,” Ms McHugh said.

“In recent days the volume of parcels has declined, in line with online shopping deadlines, and it’s all about Christmas Cards from now until Christmas Eve.”

All post offices will be open all day tomorrow and until 1pm on Christmas Eve for last minute gifts, currency, and mail services.

The post offices will reopen on Thursday 28th December and postal deliveries will also resume on Friday 28th December.

• Read more: Have you sent your Christmas cards yet? An Post reveal key dates for Christmas deliveries

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