Norwegian postal service ranks poorly
A recent survey of European postal services showed that only 82.4 percent of first-class, so-called “A” letters mailed in Norway were delivered on time last year. The Norwegian postal service is supposed to deliver domestic first-class mail overnight.
Most other European postal services could report that more than 90 percent of first-class mail arrived on time.
Only Latvia and Germany had slower postal service than Norway. Twenty other countries had faster service.
Norwegian postal delivery has also gotten slower in recent years. Between 2001 and 2005, as much as 87 percent of A-post was delivered overnight.
A spokesman for Posten Norge admitted service wasn’t good enough in Norway. He claimed, though, that Norway’s large land area, isolated settlements and geography made mail delivery more difficult in Norway than elsewhere.
Postal rates just went up again, meanwhile. It now costs NOK 7 (about USD 1.10) to mail a domestic letter in Norway, nearly three times what it costs in, for example, the US.
