#postal operators

It has been an honour to lead the Universal Postal Union (UPU) through some of the most tumultuous years of the UN specialized agency’s history.

On October 5, 2023, the Universal Postal Union concluded its fourth Extraordinary Congress in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The five-day event, which brought together postal plenipotentiaries from around the world, saw several historic agreements made, including plans to increase the UPU’s engagement with wider postal sector players, new climate action targets, the modernization of postal financial services, and increasing the UPU’s regular budget ceiling to provide the organization with additional financial resources.

On the closing of the Congress, the UPU Director General reflected on the effect the decisions made in Riyadh would have on the organization’s future. “The Universal Postal Union, which will celebrate its 150th anniversary next year, was created with a simple yet profound mission: to connect the world through postal services. Over the decades, our organization has continuously evolved to meet the changing needs of our global community,” he said. “In Riyadh, we have paved the way towards an even more profound transformation, making pivotal and important decisions that will shape the future of our organization. The next regular Congress is set to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2025

UPU World Leaders Forum 2022: Session 2 - Game changing emerging technologies. Universal Postal Union.

Brussels, 15 November 2016

On 8th November, PostEurop and Ismail Ertug MEP (DE, S&D) hosted a lively morning session on e-commerce and cross-border parcel delivery in the European Parliament. Parcel delivery is a cornerstone of the fast-growing e-commerce industry and a crucial pillar of the EU’s Digital Single Market.

Owners from three innovative and successful small businesses shared their experience of running an e-commerce business and working with postal operators to reach their end-consumers across Europe and beyond. There was a lively discussion on the role of cross-border parcel delivery for the DSM, and the nature of real obstacles such as language, consumer attitudes and VAT.

MEP Ismail Ertug, a German member of the European Parliament for the Socialists & Democrats, stressed: “European consumers’ habits are changing and they increasingly shop online. Digitalization allows SMEs to expand their customer base and grow, and cross-border parcel delivery makes it work in practice. The European Parliament has a role to support the development of e-commerce for the benefits of SMEs and their consumers. It was very useful to hear the three SMEs share their experience.”

Jim Shaikh, CEO of Yoomi, a UK company that manufactures self-warming baby bottles and sells them around the world, commented: “Parents like our products because with Yoomi at the touch of a button they can warm milk in just 60 seconds making their lives easier!  We are growing worldwide and we deliver through various shipments, from parcels to containers. We constantly look for the best price and service for all types of deliveries and we work with postal operators as well as alternative providers. As a UK inventor and manufacturer, we need to protect our IP rights, but this comes at a great cost to our small company. In addition, we have EU approval but some member states require additional regulatory checks, making it a little bit harder to sell across borders.”

Tino Kopanakis, CEO of InandOut Distribution from Austria, which sells CDs and DVDs among many other items B2B and B2C, said: “We created our first online shop in 1998. Since these very early days in e-commerce, parcel delivery has become faster and cheaper. We now deliver to over 80 countries around the world. Price is important for us, and we greatly value Post Austria’s customer-friendly approach in the rare event that a parcel is lost. There are bigger barriers to doing business across borders, for example it would help if the EU had a simplified EU-wide system for VAT returns.”

Aurélien de Meaux, co-founder and CEO of Cheerz, a French SME which enables their customers to print and deliver photos straight from their smartphone to their homes, stressed: “Cheerz’ customers are very demanding. We do our best to print and send their photos as quickly as possible, and we ask postal operators to deliver fast. We look at the price of delivery, and we value the fact that the posts deliver to every corner in Europe. We look to sell outside of France because it makes good business sense – a market of 500 million is better than a market of 65 million inhabitants – but we have found it works better if we localise our service because, like it or not, consumers often prefer to buy in their own country.”

Jean-Paul Forceville, Chairman of PostEurop – which represents national postal operators across Europe – concluded: “The three small business owners show that cross-border parcel delivery supports the growth of e-commerce. Postal operators deliver on average around 11 million parcels daily across Europe, and we are constantly adapting to the changing lifestyle of end-customers and the demands of e-retailers for fast, traceable and flexible delivery. Postal operators are working together to improve interoperability and thus support the growth of e-commerce.” 

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Notes to the editors

PostEurop is the trade association representing European national postal operators, which are either partially state-owned or used to be state-owned. It has 52 members in 49 countries.

European national postal operators handle some 4 billion parcels domestically and across Europe every year - so around 11 million parcels per day - and operate in all 28 EU countries. They serve 175,000 retail outlets, employ 2 million people, operate 258 million delivery points, collect from 720,000 street postboxes and account for 1 percent of the EU’s entire GDP .

(En français plus bas) The final result of the ongoing discussions pertaining to the security aspects of the upcoming UPU Congress in Istanbul, and the uncertainty about whether or not the Congress will indeed be held in Istanbul, may have an impact on our next Plenary Assembly, scheduled to take place on 20 September 2016 in Istanbul. 

As you are aware, a final decision on the hosting of the Congress has unfortunately been postponed and will be taken only on 29 August 2016 at an extraordinary meeting of the UPU Council of Administration (CA) in Berne.  A few days prior (on 25 August 2016), the PostEurop Management Board will hold a regular Board meeting.  The various possible scenarios and options for the issue will be explored in detail by the Board.

At this point in time, we would like to inform you that we consider this matter to be of utmost importance and we will continue to closely monitor the developments.  We intend to inform you as soon as we have more information.

Meanwhile, the on-going statutory preparation for the PostEurop Plenary Assembly remains unchanged and current deadlines, including the submission of candidacies for the Management Board elections, are to be respected.   

Should you have any further concerns or queries please do not hesitate to contact our Secretary General, Botond Szebeny.

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Le résultat final des discussions actuelles sur les aspects sécuritaires du prochain Congrès de l’UPU à Istanbul et l’incertitude quant au fait de savoir si le Congrès aura effectivement lieu à Istanbul pourraient avoir un impact sur notre prochaine Assemblée plénière prévue pour le 20 septembre 2016 à Istanbul.

Comme vous le savez, la décision finale sur la tenue du Congrès a malheureusement été reportée et ne sera pas prise avant le 29 août 2016, date à laquelle se tiendra un Conseil d’administration (CA) extraordinaire de l’UPU à Berne. Quelques jours plus tôt (le 25 août 2016), le Conseil d’administration de PostEurop examinera en détail, lors de sa réunion trimestrielle, les différents scénarios et options envisageables sur la question.

À ce stade, nous tenons à ce que vous sachiez que nous accordons la plus grande importance à cette question que nous continuerons à suivre de très près. Nous vous tiendrons au courant de l’évolution de la situation dès que de nouvelles informations nous seront parvenues.

En attendant, les démarches statutaires en cours dans le cadre de la préparation de l’Assemblée plénière de PostEurop se poursuivront et les échéances actuelles, par exemple concernant la soumission des candidatures pour les élections du Conseil d’administration, devront être respectées.