The extended retail hours are 9am–6pm Monday to Friday and 9am–12:30pm on Saturday.

NSW state manager Christine Walker said the extra hours will provide customers more choice and convenience to send and receive their Christmas gifts in time for the big day.

“We know people are busy at this time of year, so we’re giving our customers more options to prepare for the festive season,” Ms Walker said.

“We predict this Christmas will be our busiest yet. Last year we delivered more than 34 million parcels over the Christmas period, a record we expect to break this year.

“We’re also making it easier for our customers to choose how their items are delivered.”

“We’ve introduced an SMS notification service for parcel deliveries. On the morning of delivery, customers will receive a text message with the option of having the driver leave the parcel at a safe location at their home, confirm they will be home or deliver directly to a Post Office if no-one is home.

“Customers can also take advantage of our parcel delivery services by opting to have their parcels sent to any one of our free 24/7 parcel lockers (available in over 280 locations), to a Post Office of their choice, or to a PO Box.”

For more information please visit www.auspost.com.au/Christmas.

The Gulgong Post Office have teamed up with Wenonah Lodge this year to manage Santa’s Mail.

“If your child would like to write to Santa just enclose it in an envelope with your return address and bring it into the Gulgong Post Office.

“We will put the Gulgong Post Mark on it and Santa's Elves at Wenonah will pen a personalised reply that will be delivered to your home before Christmas. All we ask for is a gold coin donation. All proceeds go towards Wenonah Lodge. Be sure to have your letter posted before the 15th of December”.