Bumper post bag in Ballymoney

There had been fears that with the increase in the price of stamps that some people would ditch the traditional Christmas cards.

And although there was a bit of a dip on that front, the explosion in on-line shopping meant that the High Street sorting office saw an increase in packages to make up for that.

Delivery Manager Sammy Graham told the Times: “We have 35 staff here and they have been working over-time to cope. It has been really busy. We thought there might have been a bit of a drop in letters and Christmas cards and their numbers are a bit down but the packages are flying through with more people shopping online.

“But even with the price increase people are still sending lots of Christmas cards.”

Stamps went up price in the spring this year from 36p to 50p for a second class and 42p to 60p for a first class stamp.

One thing that hasn’t dropped is the amount of generosity from the public in north Antrim who have still being giving postal staff Christmas presents like boxes of sweets and biscuits!