InPost, part of Integer.pl Group, said the one-and-a-half year deal with the City of Wrocław takes affect this month, involving delivery of more than 1.1m standard letters, along with registered mail and reply cards, domestically and internationally.

The deal with the City Hall in Poland’s fourth largest city is expected to be worth around PLN 5m (EUR 1.2m) for InPost.

But it takes a wider significance for InPost as the first step by the company after a “long struggle” to win the chance to participate in public mail tenders at all.

Rafal Brzoska, the InPost chief executive, said the Wrocław contract had “great significance” for his company.

“After a long struggle for the release of independent operators to participate in public tenders, we were able to overcome the more-or-less official monopoly of the Polish Post Office in this regard,” he said.

Brzoska said the contract secured just as Poland’s postal liberalisation took effect was also important in demonstrating the price advantage and service quality that independent postal operators could provide nationally.

“Wrocław City Hall is a perfect example of rational financial policy in the context of managing public funds,” said Brzoska. “In fact, working with InPost brings tangible benefits to companies and institutions seeking not only a qualitative change of the services provided, but also savings.”

Liberalisation

With market restrictions over, InPost will no longer need to bulk up business letters with metallic plates

Poland’s postal market has steadily opened up to competition in recent years, but this month has seen the final step of liberalisation, with private sector companies now allowed to compete with Polish Post in the important area of letters under 50g in weight, without pricing their services at least 2.5 times higher than universal service provider Polish Post.

Poland is one of 11 remaining European Union nations that were required to fully liberalise their postal market as of this year, under the 2008 EU Postal Directive.

InPost, which had even been adding metal weights to letters to get around the restrictions on private sector delivery of standard letters prior to this month, said that now the market has been fully opened to competition, customers would see more attractive offers from alternative operators, including lower prices for postal services.

The company said customers would benefit now that business letters under 50g no longer needs to be separated and specially packed to get round the ban, simplifying the whole process.

As well as improving cost efficiency, InPost said mailers would benefit from improved processing times, allowing quicker delivery for important invoices, contracts and tenders.

InPost believes its contract with the City of Wrocław signifies its potential to have the same kind of success in the public sector as it has providing mail delivery for financial institutions including Raiffeisen Bank, Deutsche Bank, BRE Bank and Getin Bank, as well as telecoms firms like Polkomtel, TP SA and Orange.

Source: Post&Parcel/InPost

Tags: business mail, inpost, Integer.pl, liberalisation, Poland, Public Sector