Posten continues its diet

Posten, the Norwegian postal services, is continuously slimming down and is to cut 3,000 man-labour years in 2002. In the first nine months of 2001, Posten cut 1,500 man-labour years and the company has decided to reduce its workforce from 25,000 to 20,000 jobs. The number of sent letters fell by 9.3 per cent in the third quarter and by 2.4 per cent in the first nine months of the year, while the number of packages fell by 2 per cent in the first nine months. Posten is making plans based on a further fall in the number of letters and packages.

The downturn is partly due to the introduction of VAT on postage from July 1, after which postage on letters rose from NKr4.50 to NKr5.50. At the same time, the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11 and the general uncertainty on the market has also contributed to the downturn for Posten, in addition to increased use of email and mobile phone text messages.

Abstracted from Aftenposten