Posti is in the process of renewing its retail network in accordance with the demands imposed by e-commerce growth and changing customer needs. The number of Posti’s service points is increasing in total as according to plans there will be over 2700 service points in 2020. Customers would like Posti’s service points to have extensive opening hours and be located near other services.
“The current renewal measures are based on significant changes in the way people move, spend their time and use services. Our customers want to use the postal service in connection with taking care of other errands, such as buying groceries. Finns appreciate easy services,” says Lasse Huttunen, Director of Retail Network.
Parcel Lockers have become increasingly popular. Their number has grown strongly. According to Posti’s surveys, up to 59% of Finns have used a Posti Parcel Locker and more lockers are being added in different parts of Finland. Smartpost parcel lockers are also being installed in apartment buildings. Customers want to use mobile item tracking and other postal services, irrespective of time and location.
“We expect to see further e-commerce growth. Over the past decade, the number of Posti's service points has more than doubled, mostly due to parcel lockers. As the number of lockers continues to grow and customers have constant access to our digital services, Posti’s services are even closer to customers than before,” says Lasse Huttunen.
The planned changes would be carried out in the period 2019-2020. Posti would close some of its own outlets. Some of the services would be transferred to partner businesses while some Posti outlets could be merged and others replaced with self-service points.
Each locality in question has other Posti service points in addition to an outlet that might be targeted and would therefore retain services in the future.
The plans apply to 21 of Posti outlets in Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo, Lahti, Turku, Pori, Tampere, Kouvola, Mikkeli, Lappeenranta, Lemi, Vaasa, Kuopio and Rovaniemi. The planned changes do not apply to the Main Post Office in Helsinki, the outlet located in the city centre of Jyväskylä or the outlet located at the Arctic Circle in Rovaniemi.
The cooperation negotiations related to the planned changes will begin in early April. According to a preliminary estimate, the reduction need is a maximum of 124 permanent employees. The change would be carried out gradually by the end of 2020.
Posti needs to reduce costs by at least approximately EUR 150–200 million over the next three years. These cost savings would be required due to the substantial decline in letter and publication volumes alone. The need for savings is based on changing customer needs as well as the costs of Posti’s own outlets – central locations or flexible opening hours cannot be maintained in a cost-effective manner. A total of 97% of Posti’s retail network is made up of service points maintained by Posti’s partners, i.e. service points set up in connection with different service providers. The cooperation negotiations do not concern service points maintained by Posti’s partners.
