Minister against proposal to limit postal deliveries

Alexander De Croo, the federal minister responsible for postal regulations, will not allow postal deliveries to be cut to three or four days a week, as proposed by postal regulator BIPT. According to the regulator, a daily mail delivery is no longer necessary, given the changes in the way people communicate.

Classic mail continues to reduce in volume, the regulator said. Within five or 10 years, mail carriers’ bags could be empty, while the service would be forced to continue by law.

Belgian law requires Bpost to deliver every weekday. That’s also a condition, De Croo said, in the government’s contract with Bpost. “I have no plans to allow an exception to that. The reduction in frequency of postal deliveries is not on the agenda in the coming years.”

Postal service Bpost itself did not come out in favour of the plan either. BIPT’s study puts Bpost’s deliveries in a bad light, a spokesperson said, despite handling 9.6 million pieces of mail every day and a strong business in delivering packages. “Going round every postbox every day is one of the cornerstones of our strategic plan,” the spokesperson said.

Photo courtesy Bpost