Australia Post is rapidly recruiting thousands of seasonal workers to handle what could be the biggest Holiday Season ever, beginning with weekend deliveries in metropolitan areas from this Saturday.

"This recruitment drive is the biggest of its kind in our history and we're on track to hire 2,000 Christmas casuals before December," said Australia Post Group Chief Operating Officer Bob Black.  "This will put us in a good position for a record-breaking Christmas ahead.

"We are also recruiting 800 new fixed-term roles including truck and van drivers, and additional people to serve customers in our Post Offices and contact centres," he added.

The online shopping boom - already topping $21 Billion for the first time ever this year - is expected to grow even bigger during the gift-giving season.  Forecasts call for an average of one million parcels to be delivered every day during the peak season, and Auspost is getting its infrastructure ready for the massive volume.

"We are investing $300 Million into new parcel processing technology and machinery across Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, enabling us to process an additional 35,000 parcels and Express Post items an hour," said Mr. Black.  "We want to give our customers more delivery choices, on all their online purchases ahead of Christmas.  From this Saturday we will start delivering on weekends in metro areas, right up to Christmas, and Post Offices will soon begin extended trading.

"Improvements in parcel tracking and our suite of delivery choices, including parcel redirections and our free 24/7 parcel lockers provide customers convenience around the clock," he added, "Our people work really hard all year round, and take special pride in being able to offer our customers flexibility and peace of mind knowing all their Christmas purchases will arrive safely and on-time."