2023-09-20 19:06:59
La Poste should no longer be required to distribute newspapers before 12:30 p.m., says its boss Roberto Cirillo. “Today, many people are no longer at home at noon.”
“What time we drop off the letters and newspapers doesn’t matter to them,” adds the general director of La Poste in an interview broadcast Wednesday by the German-speaking newspaper Blick. Postal services must evolve with the times, he continues. “We must have the freedom to adapt to customer needs.”
Politicians should provide an appropriate framework with such freedom of decision, notes Roberto Cirillo. “For example, people and businesses demand a secure and reliable postal service in digital form, which is recognized in the same way as a registered letter.”
A timetable set in law
For now, the law states that daily newspapers must be distributed before 12:30 p.m. A principle specified in a revision of the ordinance relating to the Postal Lawadopted in September 2020, which indicates that all houses inhabited all year round are concerned.
But in the meantime, a commission of experts mandated by the Confederation put forward the idea in spring 2022 of delaying mail delivery. The Federal Department of Communications is expected to take up this proposal soon and submit it to the Federal Council. If the latter says yes, the law on La Poste will have to be revised to authorize delivery in the afternoon.
For La Poste, this would make it possible to combine the delivery of letters and newspapers with that of parcels and therefore to use fewer postmen. Unions fear that this will endanger thousands of jobs and denounce a serious loss of quality.
In 2012, La Poste abandoned plans to deliver mail until 2 p.m. after mixed reactions from users. Given its good financial situation at the time, the company had decided to forego the savings that would have been made possible with such a change.
>> Lire: The Post Office will not deliver its mail later
Savings plan launched
Since then, the financial situation of La Poste has changed significantly. In March, it launched a savings plan of 40 million francs. Roberto Cirillo also clarified on Wednesday that “there will be jobs crossed out”, but without specifying the number.
The yellow giant had indicated that it wanted to act not only on personnel costs, but also on material costs, such as system-related expenses. Concrete measures must be developed by the end of the year. They should be implemented in 2024, so that they are effective by 2025 at the latest.
>> Read about it: La Poste wants to save 42 million francs and cut jobs
La Poste’s profit fell by more than half in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year, to 118 million francs.
Subject radio: Virginie Langerock
Texte web: cab
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