Israelis went a bit overboard this past Black Friday, and the mail and customs authorities are paying the price.
Israel's Postal Authority reported that over the past week, some 300 tons of Black Friday and Cyber Monday packages have arrived from abroad. A third of them landed over the weekend.
Some 6.5 million packages were delivered in November, and two million more during the first week of December – a record number for one week.
Israel's post offices no longer send written slips of paper to inform addressees of packages, but rather send text messages to their phones. No fewer than 4.5 million such messages were sent during the month of November.
Most of the packages are purchases from China, the United States, and Great Britain, containing mostly clothing, shoes, toys, costumes – and a significant number of smartphones as well.
What to do about the long lines of people waiting to pick up their packages? The postal authorities say that the service that allows for reserving a place in line in advance via the Postal Authority website can save much time.