Posti plans to remove mass delivery of advertisements and unaddressed mass mailings, such as papers free of charge to mail recipients, from its service offering from the beginning of 2025. The plans do not concern the addressed letter, marketing or newspaper services offered nationwide to households and businesses.
In addition, Posti is planning to reorganize its postal center in Perkkoonkatu, Tampere. The workload of the center will be affected by plans to invest in new sorting machines that improve mail handling efficiency and by the plan to centralize mail handling in Helsinki.
Both changes above are expected to have an impact on personnel, and Posti has today, May 6, invited personnel representatives to change negotiations. The impact of the changes in the service offering on personnel will be resolved in the regional change negotiations. According to a preliminary estimate, these changes are expected to reduce a maximum of 130 employees. The negotiations will determine whether a large part of the potential reductions can be achieved through pension or other arrangements. The change is also expected to have a direct or indirect impact on Posti's partner companies. The changes at the Tampere postal center are estimated to lead to a maximum of 120 redundancies.
The aim is to implement the planned changes in such a way that redundancies remain as minimal as possible. Every effort will be made to support the employees in this challenging change situation, including by seeking voluntary solutions and providing training. Posti employs around 15 000 people in Finland.
Planned changes to services for unaddressed advertising and free distribution papers
Digitalization and changes in consumer behavior have reduced the amount of paper mail delivered by Posti by approximately 70 per cent over the past ten years, and the amount continues to decrease. In addition to Posti, the change applies to publishers, printing houses and other distribution companies. In Finland, 14 other distribution companies also handle commercial mail delivery. The decrease in the amount of paper mail is also accelerated by the digitalization projects of the public sector and the state.
According to the plan, mass delivery of unaddressed mass mailings and the Postinen promotional products would be removed from Posti’s services at the beginning of 2025. Posti has been looking for cost-effective solutions already in the past, for example by halving Postinen's publication days to one per week.
The number of advertisements and unaddressed free distribution papers that are delivered to all households has been decreasing for a long time. Bans on advertising and free distribution have become more common, especially in urban areas, and advertisers are increasingly targeting their advertising to digital channels. There have also been significant changes in consumers’ desire to receive mass advertising to their households during the last years. Approximately 1.2 million Finnish households have already banned marketing.
"Due to these significant market changes, we need to continuously evaluate the functionality and viability of our services in the long term. At Posti, we want to continue to offer traditional paper mail services, but at the same time we are investing heavily in digitalization together with our customers. We need to focus on services that are efficient and meaningful to our customers and support profitable business", says Yrjö Eskola, Senior Vice President of Postal Services.
The public notification will be renewed
According to the plan, businesses would continue to be offered a wide assortment of addressed letter products to be delivered to households and businesses. In addition, the public notification delivered to households and businesses will now be renewed. The public notification would apply to announcements from the state, municipalities, and other authorities regarding such public services that can be considered significant to all citizens. The public notification does not contain advertising, so it can also be delivered to addresses banning advertising and free distribution. In this way, Posti continues to cooperate with other commercial operators to ensure that citizens can be reached during disruptions, exceptional situations, or crisis situations.
Planned changes to Tampere postal center
Posti is planning to reorganize the operations of the Tampere postal center. Currently, the Tampere postal center carries out parcel sorting and terminal work as well as manual pre-processing, coding and surveys related to the distribution of letters and magazines. The center’s activities need to be reviewed in the changing context to ensure that we operate efficiently following the planned investments and changes.
"The change in Tampere is influenced by the plan to invest in new sorting machines improving mail handling efficiency and the plan to centralize mail handling in Helsinki. With the planned reorganization, we also want to strengthen the center’s ability to better meet the needs of our e-commerce customers as part of Posti's nationwide sorting network. This will require a review of current operating models and work tasks, and we will have to start change negotiations. We will do our best to support our personnel in this challenging change situation," said Ari Mäntyvaara, heading the Tampere postal center.
The planned restructuring has no impact on our customers or our services: all shipments are and will continue to be delivered as agreed.
As part of the change, the unit will be officially renamed Tampere logistics center. The eCommerce and Delivery Services business group currently has logistics centers in Vantaa, Lieto and Seinäjoki.