Ref. 27956-44WITH just over three weeks to go before Christmas, staff at Royal Mail's depot in Dorcan are busy clearing the decks for the traditional rush.

Already 160 Christmas casuals have been hired to back up the existing 400-strong workforce and rooms cleared to make way for the deluge of parcels, which will flood in over the coming weeks.

On an average day around 2.2 million letters go through the system at this depot alone.

Over Christmas, staff can expect to deal with up to four times that amount.

Adrian Booth, spokesman for Royal Mail, said a lot of the Christmas mail needs to be hand-sorted.

He said: "We tend to see a lot of irregular-shaped packages that might contain things such as hand-knitted jumpers.

"These can't be put in the machines so we need the extra bodies."

Mac Drew, customer liaison manager at Dorcan, says the key to keeping on top of it all is to get organised and stick to a well-rehearsed plan of action.

"Everything has to be structured and we all work to strict time scales," he said. "We have plans in place to ease the pressure when it starts getting hectic."

Wrap up well.

SCORES of people each Christmas fail to receive their presents because they have been poorly wrapped, says Royal Mail.

To help customers it has issued the following tips:

Outer protection. Use a box or padded bag to protect the contents. Items can easily become detached from paper wrappings and paper will not provide adequate protection.

Padding. Use a box or a padded bag large enough to allow for plenty of cushioning material around the contents. Newspapers rolled into pads are useful.

Numerous items. When packaging several items in the same box, particularly fragile items, ensure that they are separated from each other by at least 5cm of cushioning material.

Sealing. Boxes should be firmly sealed along all the flaps and edges with a good quality tape. The larger and heavier the parcel, the wider and stronger the tape needs to be.

Addressing. Before packaging your parcel, put a separate label showing both your address and the recipient's inside the parcel. Then put the recipient's address clearly and fully on the package. The addressee's post town should be written in capital letters, as should the postcode.

Protection. Check tops and seals are intact, make sure no grease can leak out.

CDs, DVDs and video tapes. Padded bags are not always suitable for these items. For valuable items or where it is essential that the tape is not erased, it is recommended that a box is used so cushioning can be placed around it.

For more advice call Royal Mail's customer services team on 0845 7740 740.