Chuseok gifts are being delivered for the holiday, which means a lot of work for people at the Korea Post.
For them, it's one of the busiest times of the year.
Our Choi Jeong-yoon went to one of the postal service's sorting centers to see what they do to make sure everyone gets their gifts.
5 AM on Tuesday,… three days ahead of Chuseok, cargo trucks loaded with hundreds of thousands of packages make their way through the darkness.
These parcels come from all across the nation,… from Jejudo Island, at the very southern end of the country, from the mountains of Gangwon-do, and everywhere in between.
And they're brought to one of 8 sorting centers.
During the Chuseok holiday, the Korea Post process an estimated 18 million packages, which is a 47 percent more than usual.
"This Chuseok, there are 10 percent more parcels than last year. In order to handle it all, the Korea Post has deployed an extra 3,000 workers nationwide along with other equipment like trucks.”
The Anyang logistics center is no exception. Here, the number of packages that've come in this morning one hundred fifty thousand, which is twice as many as they normally get.
"This packaging center has brought in an extra 170 workers to help with the huge number of packages. And they are working day and night to get these packages to their destinations in time for Chuseok."
First, the boxes are taken off the truck and put on a conveyer belt where they're automatically scanned on all five sides.
The system can scan up to ten thousand parcels an hour, sorting them out by the data on their bar codes... indicating where they need to go, what they contain and how they should be handled.
They're automatically directed to workers assigned to specific regions of the country who put them in carts that'll be taken to the delivery trucks.
Deliverymen take the items assigned to their areas, paying extra attention to food parcels, which might go bad if they're late.
“We start the day at 4 am, and bring out 250 loads. Koreans send gifts at Chuseok, so most items include ripe fruit, regional specialties and agricultural products. It’s hard to work so early in the morning in this weather, but it’s very rewarding to deliver these gifts in person.”
Once the boxes are all sorted, they leave the mail center at the crack of dawn. That's when the postmen start their next job of delivering them door to door.
Thanks to these dedicated workers, people across South Korea can enjoy an happy holiday and share the value of giving.
Choi Jeongyoon, Arirang News.
