Mail-Sorting Overhaul at La Poste, Paris

The French post office (La Poste) last week unveiled plans to shut five of its eight sorting offices in Paris by April 2005 in order to increase productivity. This initiative will involve replacing the offices in question will one mechanised centre with new machines capable of sorting greater volumes of mail. As a result, the proportion of mail sorted automatically in the French capital will rise from 50-60 per cent at present to 90 per cent. More generally, La Poste’s mail-sorting overhaul is part of the organisation’s preparation for the liberalisation of the postal services market in 2003. It expects 40 per cent of its turnover to be exposed to competition in 2006, rising to 100 per cent three years later. The sorting office closures, which will affect around 1,000 employees, are scheduled to begin in February 2004. The trade unions, meanwhile, have expressed fears that La Poste could decide on similar closures in other parts of France