"Meat Requires Ice Packs and Accurate Addresses"…Post Office Parcel Emergency Duty for Chuseok

'Postal Item Transit Period' Set from 9th to 24th... 16.5 Million Parcels Expected to be Received

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] This year's Chuseok holiday coincides with a special situation caused by COVID-19, leading to a surge in logistics such as parcel and package deliveries, which is expected to cause delivery delays. The Ministry of Science and ICT's Postal Service Headquarters has entered emergency operations and urged that perishable items be frozen if delays occur, and that accurate addresses and phone numbers be provided.

The Postal Service Headquarters announced on the 7th that it will designate the 16-day period from the 9th to the 24th as the "Chuseok Holiday Special Postal Traffic Period" and will enter an emergency operation system to ensure safe and accurate delivery.

The Postal Service Headquarters expects to receive about 16.5 million parcel mail items during the special traffic period. This amounts to an average of 1.84 million items per day (on working days), which is 36% more than usual and 12% more than last year. Accordingly, 33 parcel sorting machines at 25 central offices nationwide will be operated at full capacity, and 1,300 delivery vehicles will be added. Additionally, 25,000 temporary workers will be hired for sorting and other tasks, and about 3.6 billion KRW will be invested in safety and welfare activities for delivery and sorting personnel.

Safety inspections of postal machinery, electrical facilities, and vehicles have been completed in advance according to safety manuals. For motorcycle delivery zones, appropriate loads will be maintained, deliveries will be suspended during severe weather, and rest breaks will be ensured during vehicle operation to strengthen accident prevention activities for postal workers.

In particular, disinfection of facilities related to COVID-19 will be intensified, and preventive measures such as continuous temperature checks and mask-wearing for entrants will be maintained. To ensure public safety during delivery, contact will be minimized through non-face-to-face delivery with advance notification messages. Delivery results will be sent to customers to avoid inconvenience.

The Postal Service Headquarters also appealed to customers to ▲ package seafood and meat with ice packs ▲ use paper boxes instead of nonwoven fabric, Styrofoam, or bojagi wrapping ▲ write postal codes and addresses accurately and include a reachable phone number.

Park Jong-seok, head of the Postal Service Headquarters, said, "We have prepared and are implementing safety measures to ensure the safe delivery of Chuseok holiday mail," adding, "Due to COVID-19, non-face-to-face delivery will be conducted, and some mail deliveries may be delayed due to temporary surges in volume, so we ask for the public's cooperation and understanding."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.