Finland: Postal services disappearing from remote areas
Postal services of small rural communities are disappearing, as increasing numbers of shopkeepers decide that doubling as a post office is not worth the bother.
Many say that the compensation paid by Itella Corporation (formerly Finland Post), which is responsible for postal services in Finland, is insufficient.
The compensation paid by Itella to private businesses for providing postal services largely depends on how many packages and other deliveries customers pick up from the office.
Itella’s Ritva Vuorenmaa says that cooperation with business owners is functioning well.
“Most of the entrepreneurs are very satisfied with the cooperation”, she says. “They have calculated that they get benefits from increased customer and cash flow, in addition to what we pay them.”
In recent years the outsourcing programme has led to a situation where in June 2008 Itella administered directly only around one in six post offices, with roughly 1,000 of Finland’s 1,200 post office service points in private businesses such as shops or kiosks.
Postal services of small rural communities are disappearing, as increasing numbers of shopkeepers decide that doubling as a post office is not worth the bother.
Many say that the compensation paid by Itella Corporation (formerly Finland Post), which is responsible for postal services in Finland, is insufficient.
Chain manager Ari Svensk of Kesko, which runs the K chain of food stores, says that while there is no mass exodus, there have been cases in which a shopkeeper has felt that maintaining postal services as a sideline is not profitable.
A number of shops in the S Group have also stopped maintaining mail services.
“The reason is that it causes a great deal of work, and the remunerations that are paid do not cover everything”, says manager Jukka Ojapelto at the S Group.
Most post offices are these days run by outside entrepreneurs. They are usually linked with food stores.
The compensation paid by Itella to private businesses for providing postal services largely depends on how many packages and other deliveries customers pick up from the office.
In a small community this can be fairly small.
“Undoubtedly there may be some places where it is a challenge for us to find an entrepreneur”, says Riitta Vuorenmaa of Itella.
The village of Lemi in South Karelia has been without a post office for a couple of months, because one of the two grocery stores in the centre closed down.
No other businesses have agreed to taking on postal services, and consequently customers need to travel to another village in the same municipality 13 kilometres away.
As there is no post office, the packages are delivered home at no cost, as long as someone is at home when the delivery takes place.
The municipality of Lemi has asked the Chancellor of Justice to ascertain if Itella is meeting its obligations under the law on postal services. The law does not require the existence of a post office in every population centre, but each municipality must have at least one post office.
Juha Kouvo, the village shopkeeper, says that the remuneration paid by Itella would just barely cover bank and bookkeeping costs.
He feels that Itella takes advantage of economically-strapped entrepreneurs, who feel forced to take control of postal services in hopes of getting more customer flow.
Itella’s Ritva Vuorenmaa says that cooperation with business owners is functioning well.
“Most of the entrepreneurs are very satisfied with the cooperation”, she says. “They have calculated that they get benefits from increased customer and cash flow, in addition to what we pay them.”
In recent years the outsourcing programme has led to a situation where in June 2008 Itella administered directly only around one in six post offices, with roughly 1,000 of Finland’s 1,200 post office service points in private businesses such as shops or kiosks.
