For posties working through the pandemic, every day is like Christmas.
They're working longer hours as they criss-cross the territory, delivering double the volume of parcels than what they did this time last year, all while respecting physical distancing and hygiene measures.
Postie Alan O'Callaghan said his workplace has seen a massive shift since Australians were advised to stay at home due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"It's definitely been a double whammy. We've got to change how everything works," he said.
About 100 workers in the Mitchell delivery centre have had their shifts staggered with half starting at 6.30am and half at 9am. The facility has been divided into four zones so that different teams don't share break rooms or toilets and strict limits are placed on how many people can be in each room.
All posties have been equipped with hand sanitiser, while pumps have been positioned around the common touch points such as near parcel scanners and sign-on sheets.
Australia Post has handled two million parcels per day since just before Easter and 2000 posties have been retrained to cope with the changed workload. The service has chartered 17 air freighter flights per day to make up for the drop in regular flights.
Mr O'Callaghan said the 9am starts and early closing times of some of the Australia Post retail outlets had caused some tension among posties who couldn't get their rounds done on time. The early teams have had to pick up some of that workload while delivery times are not as fast as they would usually be.
Some extra casual staff have been put on or transferred from other centres and posties have been called in on the weekend to help sort parcels.
When out on his rounds, Mr O'Callaghan said the streets have been quiet but the footpaths were busy which can cause complications for posties on motorcycles.
"If there's a postie on the footpath, there's not a lot of room," he said.
"One day recently, there was a younger girl riding down street who crossed without looking."
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While interacting with customers is usually the highlight of the job, posties are trying to minimise interaction by not requiring people to sign the parcel scanners. More people tend to be home to collect their parcels, but there have been issues with some goods being stolen when left in what was thought to be a safe place.
Some dogs are getting confused when their regular postie doesn't turn up. Mr O'Callaghan said it was better if owners kept their pets contained if they were expecting a parcel and to ask the postie first if they would like to pat their dog.
While many workers are confined to their home offices, posties are still able to get out and about to complete their important work.
"It's a good life balance, you're outside for a bit, with your team for two hours then go outside and ride around for five hours."
As an essential worker, Mr O'Callaghan feels a sense of responsibility.
"There's been a lot of posties who say we're here for the community."
