It is 6 a.m., Friday December 6, 2024 and the hangar of La Poste de Woippy which receives the packages is still empty. Not for much longer. The night sorting brigade received then organized the packages arriving in bulk in trucks coming from Bar-le-Duc, “one of the two platforms in the Grand Est, the other is in Alsace at Erstein”, underlines Jean- Luc Lauray, the site director. “I saw it born in 2006,” he slips.
And since then, every year he has witnessed an increasingly large pile of packages. “We are between 5 to 6% more per year. There is a strong development in home and relay point delivery.” In 2006, between 3,500 and 4,000 parcels a day arrived at the La Poste Woippy site; today it is an average of 14,000 over a typical period. At Christmas, the “peak period”, 21,000 packages pass through here in a single day before being distributed to customers.
The record set at 21,900 dates from 2022. “We should surpass it this year,” rejoices Sylvie Raya, the team manager noting that 21,000 packages have already been reached this week even though we are only at the beginning of the month. However, the biggest peak of activity is planned for the week just before Christmas.
An anthill
While we were talking, the hangar filled up. It now looks like an anthill with operators and delivery people moving boxes from one space to another. The packages pile up in the “CP”, large metal structures which represent the different rounds.
On the sorting side, the day team has taken over and we are heading towards the D17 tour taken in charge by Cindy, 38 years old. She arrived at La Poste a few months ago after several experiences in sales. Busy flashing these packages to establish the order of her tour of Metz, she takes the time to give her impression. “I like the contact we can have with customers. Some wait for us in front of their homes and it's fun. We give them a little smile and they are happy,” says the employee who also appreciates the autonomy she can have on her tours. This is not planned for immediately, the loading of the trucks will take place around 8 a.m.
Having also had experience at Amazon, she says that hours have nothing to do with it. Neither does the size of the company, the number of packages and the level of stress. “I find that we are better prepared here even in times of peak activity. I have approximately the same number of packages to deliver during the traditional period as at Christmas,” she explains.
-“This is a crucial and magical time for us”
Sylvie Raya, team manager.
And for good reason, the organization of this prosperous period is thought out well in advance and collectively. “We prepare it in May/June by referring to the year before to identify our needs,” indicates Sylvie Raya. Over the year, sixty employees work here, including 45 as postal workers. Reinforcements arrive from mid-November to face Black Friday, followed by Cyber Monday then orders for Christmas. In 2024, 11 delivery drivers will join the team and 6 operators on fixed-term contracts on the sorting brigade. Thus, the tours organized in Metz, Saulnois, Thionville and as far as Luxembourg [au total 147 communes sont couvertes] see their number of packages increase – around 150 are distributed per round over this period compared to 130 in normal times – but their number of kilometers decrease. On average, it takes 25 kilometers for tours around Metz and 60 outside, reduced to around 40 km over the Christmas period.
That's it for the figures, but what also changes over this period is the general atmosphere. A certain euphoria invades the warehouse. “We’re getting into the Christmas spirit. The packages are piling up more and more, and the closer we get to the 24th, the more employees will take out their Christmas sweaters or hats. It’s a crucial and magical time for us because behind there are young and old alike waiting for their Christmas presents,” notes Sylvie Raya. Please note that from mid-November to December 24, nearly 170 million packages will be sorted and distributed by La Poste throughout France.
