La Poste (France)
DPDgroup, GREENOVIA, Viapost, Mediapost | |
Website | www |
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La Poste is a postal service company in France, operating in Metropolitan France, the five French overseas departments and regions and the overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Under bilateral agreements, La Poste also has responsibility for mail services in Monaco through La Poste Monaco and in Andorra alongside the Spanish company Correos.
The company was created in 1991 following the split of the
La Poste is part of the Groupe La Poste, which also comprises a bank and insurance company (
History
Kingdom of France
During the
The first set of fees appeared in 1627 for letters sent to Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse and Dijon. As with the rest of Europe, stamps did not exist in France at that time and mail was paid for by the recipient. The first map of post roads was published in 1632 and a book compiling lists of roads and inns including distances and fees to be paid was released in 1707. A new edition was released every two years until 1859. The country already had 623 coaching inns in 1632 and the figure reached 800 at the beginning of the 18th century. A ferme générale was created for mail services in 1672, which meant that postal services started to be subject to taxation. Tax officers progressively bought private postal companies and university envoys became subjects to the ferme générale in 1719. International treaties regarding postal services were signed with neighbouring countries under Louis XIV.[4]
Birth of a national postal service
During the
After the Revolution, French postal services continued their modernisation. An 1801 decree reasserted the state monopoly on mail delivery, postal orders were created in 1817 and postage stamps were introduced in 1849, nine years after they were invented in the United Kingdom. A rural service was implemented in 1830 with mail delivery in rural areas every two days. The delivery became daily from 1832.[4]
France was a founding member of the General Postal Union in 1874. The organisation became the Universal Postal Union in 1879.[4]
French PTT
Post and telegraphs were united in one administration by the French government in 1879, giving birth to the P&T ("Postes et télégraphes") which later became the PTT ("Postes, télégraphes et téléphones"). A French Ministry of Post and Telegraphs was created the same year. A national savings bank was opened in 1881 and added to the services provided by the P&T. The government took a monopoly over telephone services in 1889 and placed this responsibility under the P&T.[4] The administration then became PTT and kept this name until 1959 when it became "Postes et Télécommunications", although the acronym PTT was kept.
Postal cheques were created in 1918. The first airmail flight operated in 1912 between Nancy and Lunéville and a regular airmail network was put in place in 1935 through the "Air Bleu" company. Night airmail services started in 1939 on two lines: Paris-Bordeaux-Pau and Paris-Lyon-Marseille. Postcodes were introduced in France in 1964.[4]
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Logo of the French PTT on a former post office in Lille.
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A PTT sign in Auxerre.
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A 1950s PTT road sign in Marthon.
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A 1922 stamp.
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A mail van in 1901.
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A Citroën 2CV vehicle used by PTT.
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A Citroën H Van used by the PTT.
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Travelling post office at Strasbourg
La Poste
Before 2005
In the 1980s, it became clear that the French PTT could not compete anymore in a country where communication was greatly increasing. The administration suffered from a constant lack of innovation and was dependent on political will and decisions. A division between postal and telecommunication services was suggested as early as 1974 in a report from the French parliament. However, changes in the structure of the PTT were opposed by
In 1988, under the premiership of Socialist Michel Rocard, a law was finally prepared to split the PTT and enable the government to get the services out of the public administration and to prepare for competition from private firms. Such a move was encouraged by the European Economic Community, and the United Kingdom had already separated its national telephone company from its postal services in 1981. Most of the other member states did the same in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Trade unions organised several strikes but the law was adopted in 1990. La Poste and
Since its creation, the company has had to face strong competition from the
After 2005
La Poste lost its monopoly on postal delivery in 2005. Since then, several competing firms have started businesses in France. Most of them only deliver parcels (for example,
La Poste became a public limited company in 2010. Although most of the Western European countries had fully privatised their postal service companies, public opinion in France was largely against such a move. A majority of French citizens feared that if La Poste becomes a private company, many post offices would close, rural areas would be neglected and stamps would be more expensive. Supporters of privatisation claimed that it would help solving the debt (€5.8 billion in 2009) and contain the rise of prices.[6]
In 2013 La Poste invested around €1 billion in renovating post offices, modernising infrastructure and reinforcing its network, along with the purchase of electric delivery vehicles. Acquisitions included more Seur franchises in Spain, a 40% stake in Indian parcel firm DTDC and a similar stake in French parcel firm Colizen. The company also bought a 66% stake in freight forwarder Tigers. Via its joint venture with Swiss Post, Asendia, the Group acquired Pitney Bowes’ international mail business operations in the UK, and a 40% stake in Irish e-commerce firm eShopWorld.[7]
In December 2016, La Poste launched a regular delivery line by drones to deliver to isolated companies in secluded areas of France.[8]
Activities
Mail delivery
La Poste is by far the largest provider for mail delivery in France. It treated 15 billion messages in 2012, of which 97% implied an administration or a firm. Relations with customers only represented 55% of the company's revenue (55% for business relations ; 16% for advertisement). International mail delivery accounted for 7% of the 2012 revenue. The same year, Swiss Post and La Poste launched a joint company, Asendia, to merge their international mail activities.[9]
La Poste offers three different rates for sending mail in France: first-class, second-class and green letter. The latter was introduced in 2011 to provide an ecological alternative to the regular rates. It emits 15% less CO2 than first-class letters. In 2012, it accounted for one in five priority letters(20 percent of priority letters).[10]
Parcels and Express (GeoPost)
GeoPost grouped most parcel subsidiaries of La Poste Group. In France, the company provided two brands,
La Poste is the second biggest provider for parcel delivery in Europe, with a 15% share of the market and a €5 billion revenue.[12]
In 2017, Geopost expanded its activities in Italy,[13] Russia,[14] Brazil[15] and Vietnam.
Last-Mile Delivery
In 2015 La Poste invested €22 million into Stuart Delivery before it was officially launched.[16] In 2017 La Poste brought Stuart Delivery owing 100% of the shares [17] Stuart Delivery is a subsidiary of the DPD group and is operating in 86 cities across the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, and Portugal.[18]
On 6 December 2021 couriers in the UK for Stuart Delivery organising with IWGB started a strike. Stuart couriers told that they started the current strike after Stuart enforced a 24% pay cut in December 2021, which saw base pay rates slashed on most deliveries from £4.50 to £3.40.[19] It is the longest gig work strike in UK history.
In the UK, according to Corporate Watch Stuart Delivery made £41 million in profits from UK deliveries in 2021, over double the £20.5 million it had made in 2020.[20] Stuart Delivery's UK accounts show an unnamed director was paid £2.2 million in 2020.[21]
Other activities
In addition to postal services, La Poste also offers banking and insurance services (with
Corporate identity
Yellow is the main colour of the French post since the 1960s. Previously, postal vans used to be green and post boxes blue. Yellow was chosen because it is a colour that is easily seen and because it can symbolise speed and light. The logotype of La Poste was created by poster designer Guy Georget. It represents a bird, often called the "postal bird" ("l'oiseau postal"), symbolising a messenger. Its design was slightly altered by Georget in 1978.[23]
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The 1960 bird.
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Current design.
See also
- Caribbean Postal Union[24]
- Dirigisme
- Evolution of stamp prices in France
- List of national postal services#Europe
References
- ^ a b c d "Key figures". Groupe La Poste. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Rapport Social 2019" (PDF). Le Groupe La Poste (in French). Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- ^ Directive 97/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality of service, vol. OJ L, 1998-01-21, retrieved 2019-02-14
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Instantané : Les grandes dates clés". La Poste (in French). Archived from the original on 2015-10-09. Retrieved 2015-11-28.
- ^ Tridon, Céline (1 July 2011). "Courrier: peut-on se passer de La Poste?". Chef d'Entreprise (in French).
- ^ Sarre, Georges (15 October 2008). "Contre la privatisation de la Poste". Libération (in French).
- ^ La Poste Group profits hit by declining mail volumes
- ^ "French postal service kicks off drone delivery service". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
- ^ "Le courrier, support des échanges économiques et commerciaux" (in French). Groupe La Poste.
- ^ "Le lien renouvelé du courrier" (in French). La Poste.
- ^ ""GeoPost et La Poste Group,"". GeoPost (Global express parcel) (in French). Archived from the original on 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
- ^ "Deuxième opérateur de colis-express en Europe". La Poste (in French).
- ^ "Brt, arriva La Poste la Francia sbarca in forze nella logistica italiana". Repubblica.it (in Italian). 2016-12-05. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
- ^ "GeoPost acquires majority stake in Russia's SPSR Express as local shipping market consolidates". East-West Digital News. 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
- ^ "BRAZIL > GeoPost acquires 60% stake in Brazilian logistics company JadLog". fdianalytics.com. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
- ^ "Stuart, the Same-Hour Delivery Startup from Sparrow and Resto-In Founders, Raises €22M Pre-Launch". 18 November 2015.
- ^ "GeoPost acquires delivery startup Stuart". 7 March 2017.
- ^ "Stuart". Stuart. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
- ^ "Longest continuous gig-economy strike spreads as IWGB reveals Stuart cut key worker pay 25% but gave CEO a 1000% pay rise".
- ^ "Stuart Delivery: La Poste's gig economy gamble". 10 February 2022.
- ^ "STUART DELIVERY Ltd filing history - Find and update company information - GOV.UK".
- ^ "Troubles with webmail migration" (in French). www.arobase.org. 2007-07-27.
- ^ Chronique du timbre-poste français, 2005, page 180.
- ^ Member States, Caribbean Postal Union
Further reading
- Le Roux, Muriel, et al. eds. A Concise History of the French Post Office: From Its Origins to the Present Time (2018),