Post Office “Like a gym where you get money” – In the middle of Vantaa there is a rustic hall known to few, through which almost all Finnish post offices pass

Postal In the heart of parcel traffic in Voutila, Vantaa, near Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, there is currently a busy night and day, as the approach of Christmas increases the flow of parcels at Posti’s logistics center.

180 seasonal workers have been hired to help, so now a total of 600 people are working at the center at different times.

The massive hall building is on the side of the highways and hidden from the eyes of most, so the logistics center is not a well-known landmark and perhaps not very well known anyway. For a large part of Finns, however, the plant is important, as 80 per cent of Posti’s parcels in Finland pass through itthrough.

For example, if a Lahti resident sends a package to another Lahti resident, it passes through Voutila in Vantaa.

During the Christmas season, the number of packages passing through the logistics center per week will increase to 1.5 million, compared to the usual weekly figure of around 900,000. Truck traffic is also brisk, as during the high season there are about a thousand mail trucks in the center every day, seven hundred times the usual time.

Logistics center the extent is seen when you step on the bridge, which is located at the top of the hall that closes the conveyor belts to their ovens. The hall is hundreds of meters long. There are 1.3 kilometers of conveyors alone.

There is now a hustle and bustle in the hall like Santa’s workshop under Christmas. Packages move fast with conveyor belts, electric forklifts and sorters rumble on the floor. There are more than 200 people on the evening shift.

The conveyor motors are constantly humming. In addition, one of the bumps is heard when the packets fall off the strap to their own addresses. Some workers resort to hearing protection.

The sorting logic is such that when packets are fed to a belt, it is automatically read at the beginning, which is the destination along the conveyor. When the package reaches the right place on the belt, the conveyor platform folds the package to its sorting point.

At the sort point, the employee reads the packet data with a reader and moves the packet to the correct address, for example, to the trolley. Maybe not to think that the sorter gets plenty of exercise at the same time. He walks together between the package entry point and the trolleys, turns and works with his hands, and bends down as he lowers the package into the trolley.

Now in the hall diligently a number of seasonal workers. One of them has started on November 8 from Klaukkala Raili Sievälä, 66. He was excited to apply even though he was retired. Seasonal workers are predominantly students.

“I always want to try something new, and I’ve never worked at the Post before.”

Sievälä unpacks the straps from the trolleys and pallets. Packages are often heavy.

“Like a gym where you make money,” he describes his work.

Sievälä says that his condition has improved. Now he’s doing well, but it was difficult at first.

“We have been instructed to work ergonomically. Let’s lift our legs. ”

In general, Sievälä has liked about work: everyone helps and is really friendly.

When loaded on a strap, there are sometimes surprising transmissions.

“The toilet bowl was the most special I’ve ever seen.”

Even pretty packages surprise in between: wrapping paper can be very beautiful, as can attachment.

Young the knee’s seasonal help is represented by a resident of Helsinki who started on 15 November Onni Tommola, 19. He takes a break after high school.

“I applied to become a distributor, but was offered a place in logistics.”

So Tommola ended up in a logistics center and there at the reception. He says he is really happy with his job.

In practice, Tommola checks the waybills to ensure that they correspond to what the trucks bring to the logistics center. Making a single mistake at work will result in problems. For example, the load may contain goods that are not coming to the logistics center.

“This has required lessons but is now beginning to roll.”

The workplace usually also has two permanent employees who can be asked for advice, Tommola says. He also sometimes encounters special broadcasts.

“Sometimes trucks become loose stoves or ovens. They can’t be put on the line. ”

Logistics center master Saku Pöyhönen says the required 180 seasonal workers were obtained, but it wasn’t quite easy. The application period had to be extended.

The shortage of labor is also visible to Posti. This year, during the Christmas season, approximately the same number of packages will pass through the logistics center as during last year’s season.

“Last year, however, the number of packages increased exceptionally by 30 percent from the previous year. The general increase in the number of packages has been five percent a year, ”says Pöyhönen.

Behind the exceptionally high growth was a pandemic that increased e-commerce and thus parcel traffic. This year, people have lived quite freely in the middle of a pandemic. Admittedly, the restrictions are once again increasing.

The number of packages is expected to grow in the next few years, but according to Pöyhönen, Posti and the Vantaa logistics center have prepared for it.

When the flow of parcels is at its peak, parcels can also be sorted manually outside the Vantaa logistics center. This is also being done during this Christmas season.

It is also possible to direct parcels to other Post sorting centers.

In the next few years, there is no risk that Posti’s parcel transport logistics will become blocked, Pöyhönen assures.