Empty mailboxes twice a week in Norway

Postal service mail mailbox empty mailboxesElectrical Postal service vehicle. Photo: Norway Today Media

Empty mailboxes twice a week in Norway according to Posten

Norwegian mailboxes are on average devoid of letters two days a week, and the Postal Services (Posten Norge) will cut the delivery down to every other day. – Centralisation, believes the Leader of the Centre Party (Sp), Trygve Slagsvold Vedum.

 

Several times in the past year, Posten has been pushing for politicians to cancel the postal delivery five days a week requirement, and now believe that the limit has been reached.

Figures from the last quarterly report show that the drop in the number of letters continues at an accelerated pace. Only in the third quarter of this year was the drop in mail volumes at 15.5 per cent, and each household now receives only three addressed letters in their mailboxes twice a week on average, according to Posten.

– Then there is no longer a basis for daily mail distribution. For players with special needs, such as the newspapers, it is necessary to find alternative solutions, says CEO of Posten Norge, Tone Wille.

Centralisation

The leader of the Centre Party (Sp), Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, is not overly excited about what he hears.

– This is centralisation. It affects ordinary people and businesses all across Norway, he tells NTB.

He believes that the debate about the postal delivery far too easily becomes an «Oslo debate», indicating that the world looks different from the district’s point of view.

– In Oslo and the larger urban areas, there are several transport companies that deliver products and newspapers, and that’s good. But if you go to the coast, Finnmark or Hedmark, where I live, there is no other option than using the Postal Services. If you have a business that sends parts, or fresh produce or cell samples by mail, it becomes harder to maintain that business there, and it will be easier to move it into more central areas, Vedum states.

He believes that the Government has had a «one-sided focus on large-scale economics and centralisation» in terms of postal delivery.

– That is what the Postal Service is now following up on once again, with its proposals, believes Vedum.

Expenses will increase

The Norwegian state today pays the Postal Service to deliver five days a week to mailboxes across Norway, and one of the arguments for keeping the scheme has been the delivery of newspapers. The Postal Services is asking for amendments to the Postal Act this autumn already.

– It is necessary for us to have enough time to change to mail distribution every other day as of 2020. Alternatively, the Government’s contributions to the purchase of unprofitable postal services will continue to increase, says CEO Wille.

Vedum believes that the expenditure of money on mail delivery on all weekdays can be defended.

– We have very many public services in Norway that are not economically profitable. For example, we spend a lot of money on the railroads in Norway, although it is not an economic success story. But that’s because we want to build our country up and develop Norway. A well-functioning postal service makes it possible to create businesses and business activities facilitating the possibility of living in all parts of Norway.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today