Tag: Japan

The Japanese government has unveiled its outline of bills for privatizing the country’s postal operations, which will oblige the state to sell two-thirds of its stake in a proposed postal services holding company by the end of March 2017. The outline, compiled by the government’s preparatory office for postal business privatization scheduled for April 2007, was shown to the ministries and agencies concerned on Friday. To realize a smooth transition to the privatization takeoff day, the office proposed that Japan Post–the existing postal services public corporation–be transformed into the government’s wholly owned company during the transition period to 2007.

An over-the-counter postal services company, to be created through the privatization of state-backed Japan Post, will operate post offices like convenience stores and will offer friendly services to local people, according to proposed government legislation made available to Kyodo News on Thursday.
Post offices will offer services on behalf of a mail delivery company, issue certificates for local governments and sell tickets for events.

Japan Post said Wednesday its mail delivery service posted a 56.2 billion yen net loss in the April-September period of fiscal 2004. Japan Post blamed the sector’s red ink on the growing number of people using e-mail instead of ordinary postal services. The public postal service entity was reporting its midterm results for the first time on a trial basis. Although it reduced personnel expenses, the shrinkage in the amount of conventional mail outweighed the effects of the cost cut, it said. When Japan Post closed its full-year books for the year to March 31, 2004, the mail segment returned to the black for the first time in two years.