Japan Post to reduce mail collection frequency

Japan Post will reduce the frequency of its mail collection from mailboxes to cut costs, the first major overhaul in its mail collection operations in 13 years, it was learned Friday.

Subject to the step are mailboxes supervised by some 900 large post offices across Japan, excluding those in Tokyo’s densely populated 23 wards, Japan Post officials told Jiji Press.

Specifically, for mailboxes from which mail is collected three times or more a day, the first collection service of the day will be omitted from Oct. 16, the officials said.

Japan Post, which is outsourcing part of its mail collection operations in urban areas, hopes that the streamlining measure will reduce its annual commission payments by 3 billion yen, the officials said.

In the year that ended in March this year, the government-affiliated corporation’s mail collection and delivery outsourcing costs came to 184.4 billion yen, up 8.6 pct from the previous year. Of the total, 23 billion yen was for mail collection from mailboxes.