Tag: Israel Post

Postal strike postponed but sanctions continue

Posted by | Jul 2, 2007 | |

The Israel Postal Company workers union decided at the last moment to postpone a general strike planned for last Thursday morning after the government decided to delay the July 1 new rate schedule for bulk mailings.

Nevertheless, sanctions continue, with mail delivery slowed, post offices closing at 3 p.m. and postal clerks refusing to accept payments to the government register vehicle ownership or dispatch diplomatic mail.

Matriculation exams that are stored in Postal Company facilities are being distributed, as are National Insurance Institute allotments.

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Israel Post aims to sell financial services in Q3

Posted by | Apr 26, 2007 | |

As the privatization of Israel Post Company Ltd. gathers steam, the company plans to begin offering financial services, and market mutual, provident and pension funds at post offices. Israel Post also wants to begin selling non-life insurance, such as compulsory vehicle insurance and home insurance, by the third quarter of this year.
Israel Post predicts that the ministers of finance and communications will sign the permit allowing it to provide financial services by the end of June, so that it will be able to begin selling financial products during the fourth quarter. However, because Israel Post cannot provide financial advice for the sale of these products, and lacks a permit to provide it, it will only serve as a sales and clearing platform.

The tender for the sale of insurance at post offices was published a month ago, and the deadline to submit bids is today. Israel Post believes that the tender results will be published in May. Israel Post plans to begin selling insurance at only 50 branches of the Postal Bank. If the venture succeeds, Israel Post plans to sell home insurance, and much later, health insurance, including to foreign workers.

Insurance agents and companies will handle claims, and Israel Post will bear no responsibility. If and when the Postal Bank becomes a regular retail bank, it will have to stop selling non-life insurance, which is banned for banks.

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Postal union of Israel Post ends strike, but resumes work sanctions

Posted by | Apr 15, 2007 | |

The union of Israel Postal Company employees decided Sunday night to resume sanctions they applied last week instead of the full strike that shut down postal services on Sunday.

The 7,000 workers are protesting the government’s failure to lower bulk-mail rates so that the company can compete with private entrepreneurs in distributing hundreds of thousands of letters at a time. The workers claim that by not allowing the new state company to be competitive when it loses its monopoly in delivering bulk mail, many of them will be fired.

Diplomatic mail will not be distributed; mobile post offices will not operate; regular post office branches will close early (3:30 p.m. at large branches and 1:30 p.m. at smaller ones); and postal banks will not accept payments into government accounts.

However, postal agencies, which are owned by contractors rather than postal employees, continue to function normally in areas where they exist.
The National Insurance Institute said that NII allocations could be collected at these agencies Although the sending of letters by individuals is falling into disuse due to e-mail and faxes, the use of postal branches continues.

The Internet has significantly increased the ordering of products mailed directly to consumers. In addition, postal banks are widely used because they do not charge the fees demanded by commercial banks; thus many self-employed people go to the post offices on the 15th of the month to make their Value Added Tax payments and recipients of NII payments to get their money.

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Big banks want to buy the Postal Bank, too

Posted by | Nov 28, 2006 | |

The two largest Israeli banks, Leumi and Hapoalim, have requested to be allowed to participate in the state tender to integrate the services of the Postal Bank into the commercial banking sector.

A month ago, treasury accountant general Yaron Zelekha sent letters to dozens of institutions that may be interested in buying the Postal Bank. Among the local bodies Zelekha approached were insurance companies and the medium-sized banks.

A month ago, a joint team from the Israel Post and the treasury started examining the option of allowing a financial institution to use the Postal Bank’s network of branches to sell its products and services. The partner could be an Israeli insurance company or medium-sized bank, or an international financial body or foreign postal bank. Another possibility is turning the new postal company into a completely commercial bank that operates with an official license and is subject to Bank of Israel supervision.

The team is supposed to finish its work and decide which model is preferable by the end of March 2007. In January, team members are scheduled to travel to visit various foreign institutions that have shown interest in working with the Postal Bank.

The plan received support from a foreign source yesterday, as the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the German Postbank, Dr. Klaus Zumwinkel, arrived in Israel and met with Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson and the Bank of Israel head Stanley Fischer. Zumwinkel explained the German Postbank model to them and to outgoing banks supervisor Yoav Lehman, who also attended the meeting. The possibility of cooperation was raised.

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Israeli Postal couriers to deliver rabbinical court papers

Posted by | May 2, 2005 | |

The Postal Authority has beaten five other companies to win the public tender for a NIS 5.5 million annual contract to deliver rabbinical court documents personally to those involved in cases.

Postal Authority director-general Yossi Shelley said that until now, the mail services delivered verdicts, summonses and other such documents by registered mail; now it will use messengers to deliver them by hand.

Rabbinical court system director Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan said that court services will now improve and be more efficient.

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