Number of parcels delivered by Japan Post breaks FY 1970 record

The number of parcels Japan Post delivered between last April and early this month has reached a record-high 184.97 million, breaking the previous record set in fiscal 1970, the public postal service agency said Wednesday.

The previous record was set in the 12-month period beginning April 1, 1970, according to Japan Post.

The new all-time high was logged partly because Japan Post teamed up last November with major convenience store chain operator Lawson Inc. to provide the “Yu-Pack” door-to-door parcel delivery service.

The growth in Japan Post’s parcel service could draw flak from its archrival parcel service provider, Yamato Transport Co., industry analysts say.

Yamato has blasted Japan Post for putting the screws on its profitability and that of its peer private-sector service providers.

Masaharu Ikuta, president of Japan Post, the successor of the Postal Services Agency, said during a news conference Wednesday, “Our market share fell to 6 percent from the 71 percent clinched by the then Posts and Telecommunications Ministry in fiscal 1970, because the market has since ballooned.”

“We would like to recoup ground in the coming years to the point of seizing a 10 percent share,” he said.

Last October, Japan Post adopted a fee system of determining delivery charges based on parcel size, in lieu of levying charges on the basis of their weight.

In addition, it began offering customers fresh door-to-door delivery service for relatively large parcels such as golf bags and snowboards.

Under the Yu-Pack service, in addition to getting Japan Post to deliver parcels when users bring them to the post office, users can opt to have mailmen show up at their homes to collect parcels for delivery.

Convenience store operators with tie-up arrangements with Japan Post have come to provide increasingly important support due to the ease of use stemming from their round-the-clock operations.