- outlets to transfer to partners, number of service points increasing
In the near future, Posti plans to expand its service point network with about one hundred new service points. As a part of the renewal, Posti plans to transfer some services of its outlets to be managed by its partners. By making these changes Posti wants to meet the customers’ needs by offering longer opening hours, individual flexibility and new online services.
The renewal of Posti’s service point network aims to make it easier for people to visit Posti while taking care of their everyday activities.
- People’s mobility, use of time and the type of service they expect are changing. Customers want to visit Posti at the same time while running other errands or shopping in malls. According to a survey conducted by TNS Gallup, more than 70 per cent of Finns want Posti outlets to have the same opening hours as shops, i.e. customers want service in the evenings and on the weekends, says Riku Kuusisto, Vice President in charge of Posti’s service point network.
Due to the planned renewal, cooperation negotiations will be started with the employees of Posti’s outlets on April 28, 2015. The cooperation negotiations will concern 477 people. According to a preliminary estimate, the reduction need is a maximum of 380 permanent employees. The change would be carried out gradually in 2015–2018.
In a preliminary plan, a substantial part of the operations in Posti’s own outlets would transfer under the management of Posti’s partners. At the moment, Posti has a total of 98 own outlets. In the current business environment, the location of postal outlets managed by Posti or flexible opening hours cannot be maintained in a cost-effective manner.
- It is important for us to provide services that meet our customers’ needs. Postal outlets run by our partners offer our customers an easy way to run their postal errands, and there are already nearly 800 postal outlets, i.e. more than 90 per cent of all postal outlets, operating under our partners, emphasizes Kuusisto.
According to Kuusisto, a similar change of transferring postal outlets to service providers has occurred previously in, for instance, Denmark, Sweden, Norway or Netherlands, where postal companies have very little or no postal outlets of their own.
Regional influences are to be specified during the cooperation negotiations and they will be reported when the negotiations have been completed. Customers will be informed of any changes in their local postal outlets well in advance, and the outlets will continue their normal operations until then. The negotiations will not affect other Posti services.
All employees have the opportunity to participate in the Uusi polku (New Path) support program, which offers training and support for job seeking, retraining, or becoming an entrepreneur.
The total number of Posti's service points will continue to grow over the next few years due to the renewal. The plan is to extend the network from the current 1,400 service points to 1,500 service points by 2017. In 2010, the number of service points was 1,050.
- Posti will continue to offer the most extensive network of service points in Finland. In addition to increasing service points, we are developing our online services. For instance, in the near future you will be able to fill in a parcel label online anytime and pay the postage fee, and the parcel can be left in any parcel point or postal outlet.
The numbers and locations of Posti's service points will follow the Finnish Postal Act even after the potential changes.
Further information for the media:
Posti MediaDesk tel. +358 (0)20 452 3366 (Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
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