The Ministry of Transport and Communications has unveiled a bill that could reduce the frequency of letter deliveries to three days a week in areas with newspaper-operated delivery networks.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications has unveiled a bill that could reduce the frequency of mail deliveries in cities to three days a week.
The bill would, on the other hand, oblige the universal service provider to guarantee the continuity of letter mail deliveries in their current scope in areas with no early-morning newspaper deliveries by inviting tenders from private service providers, according to a press release from the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
“This would make five-days-a-week newspaper deliveries possible also in sparsely-populated areas,” it says in the press release.
Olli-Pekka Rantala, a director general at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, argues in an interview with Helsingin Sanomat that reducing the frequency of mail deliveries in cities is justified in light of the dwindling volume of letter mail. The average household, he points out, receives no more than 40 stamped letters a year.
“Besides, Christmas mail accounts for one-third of all letter mail,” he adds.
Rantala also dispels concerns that the bill could have an adverse effect on postal services in urban regions. “Market-based services are available in cities. The service providers responsible for early-morning newspaper deliveries, in particular, operate seven days a week,” he reminds. “When it comes to magazine and parcel deliveries, I'm sure the services can be organised also in the future with new contracts.”
The Ministry of Transport and Communications underlines that the bill has been designed to better align the regulations governing postal services with current customer needs and to guarantee the availability of postal services across the country by taking advantage of digitisation and private service providers.
The bill has already come under criticism from the Finnish Post and Logistics Union (PAU).
“Roughly 7,000 employees are currently delivering mail. If the frequency of mail deliveries is reduced to three days a week, thousands will be fired,” Heidi Nieminen, the chairperson of PAU, states to Helsingin Sanomat.
The bill is currently being circulated for comments and is tentatively scheduled for implementation in mid-2017.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto – Lehtikuva
