As the Christmas shopping panic kicked in many people chose to place their orders online and wait for their loved ones’ gifts to be delivered straight to their doorstep.

This explained why, come December, the number of parcels and large packages handled by Maltapost increased by 140 per cent over what was normally delivered throughout the year, the company’s mail chief officer, Pierre Montebello, said.

Stacked on top of each other and divided according to the locality they are destined for, hundreds of cardboard parcels and bags in various shapes and sizes are delivered each day. About 73 per cent of Maltese internet users shop online, according to research by the Malta Communications Authority earlier this year. As these users get busy clicking away and placing their orders, books, CDs, clothes, electronic equipment and lots of other items are shipped to Malta from a range of online stores.

Some familiar parcels, like the brown cardboard packaging of Amazon and the black bag of Asos – two popular online shopping sites, pepper Maltapost’s parcel and courier section in Marsa.

As people send out their Christmas cards, Maltapost also sees a sharp rise in letters collected from post boxes around the island. The number of letters processed each day shoots up by more than 50 per cent and collections increase to up to three times a day in some localities.

“Normally, we process about 120,000 letters per day at the central mailroom in Marsa. This time of year the numbers peak up to about 500,000 letters in one day, with an average of about 190,000 items,” Mr Montebello said.

He elaborated that this did not include the unaddressed advertising but included other bulk mail sent out by large companies such as banks and government departments.

Once the letters arrive at the mailroom, they are sorted manually by workers who place letters in pigeonholes according to locality and postcode. They are then forwarded to hubs where, eventually, various postmen make sure the letters reach their destination.

Apart from letters, packets and bulkier items and parcels, there are the hampers that run into hundreds with orders for deliveries still trickling in after Christmas. “We provide for pick-up and delivery with tracking for hampers, where the companies providing the hampers are able to track the status of their hampers over the internet, just like any person would do for other trackable services such as registered mail,” Mr Montebello said, pointing out the company was careful to maintain high standards despite the increased workload.