Rural post offices look to tie-ups for survival (Japan)
With many small post offices being forced to close in rural regions due to lack of business, Japan Post is pinning its hopes on teaming up with other companies to improve access to the postal network.
On Friday (12th September), Japan Post Network Co. of the Japan Post group and Lawson Inc., a major convenience store chain, opened a post office in a Lawson outlet in Sakakimachi, Nagano Prefecture, as part of this effort.
As it is likely that calls will mount for a review of postal privatization depending on the result of the next general election, post offices also hope the move toward such partnerships could head off public criticisms about falling levels of service, business analysts said.
Small regional post offices in rural areas, hit by declining populations, have been closing one after another in recent years. As of the end of August, 433 such post offices, or more than 10 percent of the total, had closed.
In addition to a decrease in customers, rural post offices also have been forced to close because managers have been aging, and local governments and agricultural cooperatives that were consigned to manage the post offices have dropped out of the business as they have restructured.
When postal privatization was discussed in the Diet, lawmakers attached a resolution calling for maintenance of the nationwide post office network. With many small post offices being forced to close in rural regions due to lack of business, Japan Post is pinning its hopes on teaming up with other companies to improve access to the postal network.
On Friday (12th September), Japan Post Network Co. of the Japan Post group and Lawson Inc., a major convenience store chain, opened a post office in a Lawson outlet in Sakakimachi, Nagano Prefecture, as part of this effort.
As it is likely that calls will mount for a review of postal privatization depending on the result of the next general election, post offices also hope the move toward such partnerships could head off public criticisms about falling levels of service, business analysts said.
Japan Post Network Chairman Shigeo Kawa praised the convenience store post office at its opening Friday.
"By utilizing a network that covers the whole country, we'll be making an active contribution to assisting people's day-to-day lives in local communities," Kawa said in the town's Murakami district.
The district had been without a post office since September 2007, when a small one managed by a local agricultural co-op closed.
The new post office opened as a branch of the Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, office and will become independent by the end of this fiscal year, to be managed by the owner of the convenience store.
Small regional post offices in rural areas, hit by declining populations, have been closing one after another in recent years. As of the end of August, 433 such post offices, or more than 10 percent of the total, had closed.
In addition to a decrease in customers, rural post offices also have been forced to close because managers have been aging, and local governments and agricultural cooperatives that were consigned to manage the post offices have dropped out of the business as they have restructured.
When postal privatization was discussed in the Diet, lawmakers attached a resolution calling for maintenance of the nationwide post office network.
The Japan Post group, therefore, is bound to ensure that services are maintained. It also expects that maintaining a nationwide network will benefit new business in the future.
In August, commissions for those managing small post offices were raised by 40 percent. The Japan Post group also has held explanatory meetings to attract candidates to manage small post offices in rural areas.
Japan Post Network also operates mobile post offices–minibuses staffed by postal workers that travel from one site to another in mountainous areas–and sets up temporary post offices in town halls and municipal government buildings.
The company also is considering setting up small post offices inside unmanned train stations.
The Democratic Party of Japan has been critical of the large number of small post office closures since the privatization.
Together with the People's New Party, the DPJ plans to release early this week a draft manifesto for the next general election in which it will call for the postal privatization policy to be reconsidered.
Zentoku, a national association of post office managers, also is worried about the decline in services in rural areas and plans to beef up its political lobbying activities to demand a review of the postal privatization policy and relevant laws.
The government's Postal Privatization Committee examines the progress of privatization every three years as well as the business conditions surrounding the Japan Post group. The committee is scheduled to draft its first review by March 2009.
If the lower house is dissolved, it appears inevitable that during the subsequent general election campaign calls will intensify for the maintenance nationwide of postal services, including provision of postal savings and postal insurance services.
