Tag: Mail Services

Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese Prime Minister, has pledged to privatise the creaking post office network.

He insists that his plan to place the trio of post office businesses, including mail delivery operations, the world’s biggest savings bank and the hefty Kampo life insurance company, into private ownership would form a central platform of his party’s general election campaign. Mr Koizumi called an election last week.

If Japan’s Prime Minister succeeds in privatising the postal service, he will guarantee himself a place in the financial history books.

Most countries, even those which have embraced the liberalisation of their postal services, have stopped short of a stock market flotation.

The reasons are varied: for some governments, the prospect of a privatised postie is politically contentious; other administrations, mindful that the income stream from a well-run delivery network can be very lucrative, prefer to keep hold of the purse strings; and still others believe that postal markets will fetch a higher price once vigorous competition is allowed to flourish.