E-commerce deliveries to and from Ireland are being disrupted by industrial action which has forced An Post to advise people not to send letters and parcels through the mail.
Staff at An Post mail centres in Dublin, Cork, Portlaoise and Athlone are striking because of new rosters for staff employed by contractor IO Systems, which they say will lead to a subsequent loss of earnings. The strike has been called by the Communications Workers Union.
Postal services across Ireland will come to a standstill later today with An Post confirming there will be no mail collections from business premises, although Post Offices remain operational. In a statement, the carrier said: “An Post greatly regrets this inconvenience to our customers and urges the parties involved to resolve their differences through the normal industrial relations procedures.”
Ireland is on course to be become western Europe’s fourth biggest online marketplace, spending some €4.6bn during 2013. Last year, Dublin-based delivery firm Nightline released the findings of research into e-commerce in Ireland, which found men are the big spenders when it comes to online shopping in Ireland. Irish men told Nightline they spent an average of €1,259.59 in the course of the preceding 12 months, compared to the €1,010.54 paid by women for their online purchases during the same period of time.
