If you are currently wrestling with festive paper and tape, spare a thought for Amazon’s dedicated team of Christmas wrappers.
While preparing presents for your nearest and dearest can be a task in itself, at Amazon’s fulfilment sites the numbers involved are at a whole different level all together — two million rolls of wrapping paper, 2,500 miles of ribbon and 1.5 million gift boxes are poised and ready for Christmas gift-givers.
Thankfully, the work is not all being left to mum or dad. The firm says a team of 500 specially-trained professional gift wrappers are ready to put the finishing festive touches on gifts for customers’ loved ones as centres like the one in Dunfermline gear up to ship the last of millions of Christmas orders.
Needless to say, with this much practice Amazon’s longest-serving wrappers know the answer to perfect presentation. Ruth Thompson, who has worked as a personal gift wrapper in the Dunfermline centre for seven years, says this is how to get it just right:
1 Creative colours
Make your wrapping paper stand out with trendy metallic tones like rose gold or copper. Alternatively, use plain brown paper and get creative by using a beautiful ribbon or introduce something a little extra like a bauble or a sprig of holly to enhance the parcel.
2 Tactical tape
Getting a sticky tape dispenser will save you time and effort by helping you use only as much tape as you need. For an extra touch of genius, use double sided tape – it’s almost invisible and will look super neat.
3 Less is more
Only use as much wrapping paper as you need. Presents will look much neater if you use the right amount of paper. Simply wrap the paper around your present and trim so that the ends only overlap by an inch or so. Too much and your gift will look bulky and untidy.
4 Think outside the box
If you’re wrapping a particularly tricky object use a gift box or bag to make life a bit easier for yourself and for the recipient of the gift.
5 Cheat
Ask someone else to do it!
