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Portage of meals, home services ... here are the postman's new missions

2021-03-06T17:17:04.450Z


Gone are the days when he just distributed letters. The tasks of the postman of modern times are now multiple ... and sometimes star


Like SNCF employees whose job has undergone a profound change, postal agents no longer have anything to do with the image of the postman by bicycle popularized by Jacques Tati.

Of course, the bicycle is still there, but the 27,000 bicycles are now electric.

Beyond the anecdote, and long before the Covid crisis, the change is radical for employees who have not all lived serenely this upheaval in their missions.

"Our tours no longer resemble those I did eighteen years ago," says Fabrice, 41, a postman in the 15th arrondissement of Paris.

In the midst of distributing letters, he sometimes has to perform various "services", which make him think that he has rather become "a salesman".

“Lately I had to photograph electronic cigarette stalls in tobacco.

Or go to a grocery store to stick a promotional label on the sanitary tampons section!

The postman is no longer just assigned to mail (and parcels in rural areas) but to a myriad of personal services.

A service company, that's how the CEO of La Poste, Philippe Wahl, sees the future.

The silver economy brought in 525 million euros in 2020

A radical change in the profession which surprises some.

"This development does not bother me, even if we must recognize that for users it can constitute a big change", assures Guillaume, postman in Indre-et-Loire.

For the 33-year-old young man, the day now starts with a smartphone in hand, the memory of which contains all the stages of the daily tour which lasts between 3:30 and 4 hours after the phase of sorting mail and parcels in the morning.

“We provide a lot of services (carrying meals, medicines) to the elderly who are also very happy to see us.

"

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A true Swiss army knife, Guillaume is also qualified to install electronic equipment in users' homes.

“Who are more and more considered as customers, says Fabrice, our Parisian postman.

Previously, stopping an older person was part of the postman's job.

Now we charge for the service.

"The silver economy has already brought in 525 million euros in 2020. At the end of the year, it will be possible by making an appointment at home to offer services to individuals such as sending a package, letter or recommended.

The future of agencies, especially in rural areas, is also one of the major questions about the future of the postal network.

Remember that regional development is one of the public service missions assigned to La Poste.

But here too things could change.

By emphasizing that "60% of the contact points received only ten people per day on average", Philippe Wahl implies that an evolution is necessary.

And to insist: "Attendance is the key.

When a municipal swimming pool no longer welcomes the public, it closes.

"

Source: leparis

All business articles on 2021-03-06

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