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The French are sending fewer and fewer letters, the state forced to help La Poste

2021-07-23T11:01:16.030Z


Faced with the continued decline in mail, a service made compulsory by law, the postal group will receive state aid


The management of La Poste was heard.

The State will pay it each year from 2022 at least 500 million euros (M €) to compensate for the structural deficit of mail.

Long a beneficiary, the mail branch of the universal postal service - which guarantees the French the possibility of sending and receiving letters and parcels six days a week throughout the country at an affordable rate - continues to plunge. .

And the Covid crisis has only accelerated the phenomenon.

If the situation continued and especially without state aid, the development of the group's other businesses (banking and parcels) could be threatened.

The increase in the stamp is no longer sufficient to compensate for the abysmal losses.

The management welcomed "an important decision which confirms the commitment and support of the State for the public service missions entrusted to La Poste".

1.3 billion euros in losses in 2020.

Due to the digital revolution, we now use nine times less red stamps (guaranteeing delivery on D + 1) than in 2008. At that time, each French person sent an average of 45 letters per year compared to five now.

Behavior that has consequences on the financial result of the postal group, obliged by agreement with the State to maintain the universal postal service.

La Poste recorded a drop in turnover of 13% over one year and volumes down 18%, ie 1.6 billion fewer letters.

In this gloomy picture, the 29% increase in the volumes of classic parcels (Colissimo) processed and distributed was not enough to cushion the losses, which amount to a total of 1.3 billion euros (€ bn) in 2020.

Read also La Poste plans to abandon the red stamp

This is why the government, through the voice of Prime Minister Jean Castex, has decided to put its hand in its pocket to compensate for a financial balance which "is now structurally degraded".

It remains for France to get the green light from Brussels for what must be called an aid plan.

New routing rules

Another avenue to relieve the mail branch which was suggested in a report delivered last May and which the government took over: the assumed slowdown in the distribution of postal items. The report of the former deputy of Lot Jean Launay suggested moving from D + 2 to D + 3. A sleight of hand and "a two-speed service" according to Marie Vairon, federal secretary of SUD-PTT which would allow '' save € 400 million per year. The elected union representative was also worried about “job losses” both on mail delivery platforms and among postal workers.

On the other hand, the possibility emitted by the former city council of taxing telephone operators to supplement a support fund for La Poste was not retained.

The new routing rules must be developed by the end of 2022, before the new company contract to be signed with the State for 2023-2028.

In addition, the government said it was "ready to maintain" the allocation of 174 million euros for La Poste's regional development mission but would like the negotiation of the next contract for the period 2023-2025 to begin "as soon as possible. the next weeks ".

Source: leparis

All business articles on 2021-07-23

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