Postal Digest – Canada Post ready for Christmas, Norway Post seeks customs change
Some more of the latest news from the postal world, including a feedback-by-mail system in Brazil, local government deal for Poste Italiane and customs policy change in Norway.
Canada Post prepared for Christmas surge
Canada Post is taking on 2,400 additional workers to help with the festive surge in volumes.
The Corporation is also scheduling more planes and trucks to carry extra volumes of greetings cards and parcels this holiday season, with expectations that the Canada Post fleet will swell to 1,330 to ensure local deliveries are completed.
“This is something we do each year to handle the extra mail entrusted to us,” said Cal Hart, senior vice president of processing, engineering and infrastructure. “The only thing that can slow us down is bad weather, but we’re ready for that too.”
Brazil Post to provide feedback system for public health service
Brazil’s Post and Telegraph Company (ECT) is partnering with the country’s Ministry of Health to provide a feedback system for patients using the public health service, the Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS).
From January, anyone using a public hospital in Brazil will be able to provide feedback through the mail without needing to pay postage. After a hospital visit, a patient will receive a questionnaire through the mail, in which he or she can fill in five questions regarding the recent visit.
ECT said it was expecting the partnership to involve the mailing of a million letters a month to users of public hospitals. Audits will be carried out to ensure the new feedback system is not abused.
Poste Italiane signs service agreement with Province of Rome
Poste Italiane is set to provide local government services through its post offices in the Province of Rome.
The Italian Post Office signed a memorandum of understanding with the Province last week that will allow residents of Rome to access municipal services and pay fees and taxes at postal counters and via automated postal kiosks.
Poste Italiane chief executive Massimo Sarmi, said: “With the Province of Rome, we see a partner in a major initiative with a strong social value. Thanks to our platform for digital communication and the ubiquity of post offices in the province, we can offer support to simplified administrative projects in collaboration with the authority, facilitating dialogue between citizens, businesses and institutions.”
Norway Post seeks expanded scope for simplified customs
Norway Post (Posten Norge) has asked the government to allow an increase on the threshold under which parcels can be shipped with simplified customs procedures.
After a simplified customs clearance procedure was first implemented for parcels under 1,000 kroner in value in 2004, Norway Post said it now wants the process to be available for parcels up to 5,000kr in value. The move would save online shoppers 11.5m kroner each year, the Post suggested. Under the simplified system, customs clearance will cost 120kr from the New Year, while regular customs clearance will cost 234kr.
Dag Mejdell, chief executive of Norway Post, said: “We have had nothing but positive experiences with this scheme, it has made it easier, cheaper and faster for private individuals to import goods from overseas. Last year, it saved Norway’s online shoppers more than 60m kroner to use the simplified customs. If the limit is raised to 5,000kr, all the other packages sent from abroad to private citizens will come within the scheme.”
