Brazil's Correios to offer franchises for 830 new post offices

A public hearing is taking place this afternoon in Brasilia to discuss the bidding for new franchise post offices in Brazil. The Brazilian Post Office, Correios, is expecting to launch a bidding process within the next three months, offering franchisees the opportunity to run 830 new post offices across the country.

Today’s hearing at the Correios headquarters in Brasilia is being held to provide information to potential bidders about the process and requirements.

The hearing will also contribute to the final shape of the bidding process itself, according to Correios.

Its vice president of network and customer relationships, Maria da Glória dos Santos Guimaraes, said the awarding of franchises for new post offices was part of Correios’ work to improve access to services throughout the Brazilian population.

Correios already has about 1,400 franchise post offices in its network, along with 6,000 of its own post offices and more than 4,000 community-run post offices.

It said it was expecting that the final announcement about the bidding will be published in the second half of this year.

Small businesses

The current government in Brazil is aiming to make use of the Post Office in helping with the social development of the country.

Last week saw the signing of a cooperation agreement between Correios and two government departments that aims to provide support for small businesses that supply products to the Post Office.

The Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade agreed to help provide training – including studies, seminars and forums – to help smaller postal suppliers to expand their operations to improve the Correios supply chain.

The three-year agreement aims to create jobs and increase use of local goods and services, but also to improve the competition among Correios suppliers, and the postal and logistics infrastructure.

Along with provision of support, the Ministries and Correios agreed to push for sustainable working practices, including adoption of standards on quality, health and safety, the environment and social responsibility, while also reducing costs.

Communications minister Paulo Bernardo said almost a third of Correios suppliers were micro or small businesses, making everything from mail boxes to staff uniforms.

“I think we can work to improve this number even more,” he said to the Post Office. “Correios is a company that is present in all municipalities in Brazil. Surely you can stimulate your suppliers through local purchases, training and other mechanisms.”

An action plan is to be drawn up within the next two months to detail the goals of the agreement.