Faced with a drop in mail traffic and new uses, La Poste announced a new tariff range this summer which removes the emblematic red stamp and replaces it with an electronic letter. The end of this symbol illustrates the profound change at La Poste in which the unions see a degradation of the public postal service.
The 1is January 2023, a page in postal history will turn; a page in history too: the end of the famous red stamp whose existence dates back to 1849. For some, this disappearance, announced in the heart of summer, is a new example of the lowering of a public service, for the others, and La Poste in the first place, it is an essential overhaul to meet the new uses of customers. Because the reality is that the sending of letters has been in competition for several years with the internet and its emails distributed almost instantly – a practice even more used during the Covid epidemic – and that its volume has considerably decreased.
“In 2020 the fall in mail volumes accelerated and the universal postal service, one of La Poste’s four public service missions, became heavily in deficit (up to 1.1 billion euros)”, explains La Poste, which received from the State, on July 22, 2021, an annual budget allocation of 500 to 520 million euros depending on the quality of service results, to compensate for part of this universal postal service deficit. To this situation have been added over time the difficulties for La Poste to guarantee delivery the next day (D+1) of the red stamp.
Switch to digital
“The use of the Red Letter is tending to disappear; households sent 45 priority letters per year in 2010, only 5 in 2021. Digital means, emails, SMS etc. have been widely adopted for urgent shipments. On the other hand, for the majority of everyday uses, sending administrative documents, postcards, small goods, it is the Green Letter which is chosen and acclaimed by customers”, assures La Poste, which emphasizes that “the expectations expressed by the 22,000 professional and private customers consulted by La Poste focus on delivery reliability, mail tracking services and consideration of the environmental impact. »
The new mail offer
On the strength of these observations, La Poste has therefore revised its offer. The red stamp is replaced by a digital letter, the red e-Letter “sent from laposte.fr until 8 p.m., printed by La Poste near the recipient, respecting the confidentiality of the content, and distributed the next day under envelope emblazoned with a red stamp design. This e-Letter will be marketed from €1.49 (for 1 to 3 sheets) compared to €1.43 for the priority letter today, the cost of the envelope and the paper being included.
This is followed by the Green Letter with its green stamp (from €1.16 with tracking option at €0.50), distributed on D+3, and a new one, the Turquoise Services Plus Letter. Offered from €2.95 (variable price according to weight up to 2 kg), this new letter offers more traceability services and can be picked up from his personal mailbox by the postman.
At a time when each French household spends an average of €37 per year on postal items (mail and parcels) compared to €45 in 2016, La Poste hopes to better meet the expectations of its customers with this new tariff range, which, according to the Arcep, the regulator, responds “to the principle of affordability laid down by the legislative and regulatory framework. »
Union anger and petition
But where La Poste sees in its new red e-Letter a symbol of adaptability and modernity, ecologically more virtuous – and the hope of saving 100 to 150 million euros per year – others perceive a further weakening of the public postal service. Noting that “the pricing policy has also contributed to the disaffection of the red stamp with a 33% increase over the last three years”, the Sud-PTT union deplores that “for its leaders as well as for its shareholders (the State and the Caisse des Deposits), La Poste must turn into a cash machine, whatever the cost to the community. »
Recalling that “the priority letter (D+1) represents a whole symbol, that of the quality of service since nearly 89% of these letters are actually delivered the next day”, the union believes that “La Poste is aggravating the digital divide, because it will close a real option for people having difficulties with digital”. The union, which explains that “the mail branch has experienced more than 73,000 job cuts since 2005”, also requests that “expertise be carried out on the impacts that the new mail range would generate. More than 100,000 people are affected. »
Sud-PTT has been asking for “the freezing of the new mail range” since the summer and has launched a petition in this sense, “We are moving for the Red Stamp” on the Change.org platform so that the debate is in the public square. More than 21,000 people have already signed it.
