Starting in July, Czech Post will extend the delivery time for so-called economic postal shipments by one day to three days. The reason is a permanent decline in interest in sending postal shipments and the associated optimization of the postal network. Every day, the post office delivers around 1.8 million postal shipments. The Czech Post introduced the two-speed delivery system in February 2020.
The post office tested the slower delivery of economic shipments from two to three days at 17 branches this spring and expanded to another 144 branches in June. From July, postal shipments will be delivered in an adjusted manner at all 289 delivery branches (depots) throughout the Czech Republic. From the middle of the year, a regular priority letter will cost 34 crowns, and an economic one will cost 27 crowns.
According to the company’s experience, seven percent of clients use priority delivery, while the rest use the economic, albeit slower, delivery method.
“Given the permanent decline in interest in postal shipments and concerning the DEPO Act, when two million entities no longer communicate with authorities through paper registered letters but through data boxes, the economic mode is extended from D+2 to D+3 from July 1, 2023. If someone prefers the priority delivery method, they can use D+1, which remains unchanged,” explained postal spokesperson Matyáš Vitík.
Czech Post is taking some cost-cutting measures this year due to deepening losses. One is the closure of 300 branches in the middle of the year and the dismissal of about 1,000 employees. By mid-year, it should present a transformation plan, in which it will be divided into a branch operator providing essential services for the state and a commercial delivery joint-stock company.