The various confinements do not seem to have motivated the French to send each other more letters.
This is what emerges from the new Arcep study published on October 14, 2021. The year 2020 thus saw a contraction of 14.7% of postal items exchanged.
If the decline is not new, it has even been regular for twelve years, its pace has accelerated sharply.
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The main victim is mail in all its forms (priority, urgent or economic envelopes, envelopes delivered against signature, etc.) which has collapsed by nearly 20%.
The second quarter, marked by confinements, was particularly impactful.
The number of press titles distributed to subscribers by postal circuit is also experiencing a fall, although less violent: -7.4% over one year.
In the average of the previous four years.
According to the Mail and Parcel Observatory: "
press distribution to subscribers is impacted, like number sales, by the distribution of the digital press
".
The parcel generates the majority of postal revenues
In contrast, the number of parcels is accelerating its growth (+ 12.4% in one year in 2020 against + 7.0% a year earlier). They are taking full advantage of the growing use of e-commerce and door-to-door delivery, which more than offset the decline in business-to-business shipments.
According to the 2021 digital barometer: “
76% of people questioned declared having made at least one purchase of goods on the internet during the last 12 months (+ 12 points in a year), including 48% at least once a month (+ 13 points a year)
”.
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The key to revenues which amount to 8.6 billion euros.
This segment, which is much more profitable than mail, now generates 57% of total revenues from postal delivery compared to only 15% of flows.