But there'll always be rEal-Mail!(postal services)

• Author: Leavey, Thomas E.

When 22 nations combined forces to create the Universal Postal Union (UPU) on 9 October 1874, they launched the world's largest physical distribution network. Despite the enormous technological progress since that time, the global postal service remains to this day the largest and densest communication network in the world. Today, more than 6.2 million dedicated postal employees sort and deliver an annual total of more than 400 billion letters, printed matter and parcels to every address in the world, while 700,000 post offices serve customers around the globe. So what has changed?

The environment in which the postal service operates today has changed dramatically, and all indications are that the pace of this evolution will continue to accelerate into the next millennium. Postal services are not only expected to keep track with developments in the technological field, but also with rapid economic and social changes. Postal customers are demanding much more than in the past. And if they do not receive the level of service they expect, customers will simply shift their business to other competitors in the physical distribution sector who are eager to expand their market share.

Greater competitiveness

The effects of fierce competition, higher customer demands and the advent of new communications technologies have convinced many postal services that they have to modify their operational and financial strategies in order to remain in the business. The UPU's Seoul Postal Strategy sharpened this focus by calling for postal services to operate on a more commercial basis. This means that postal corporate goals need to shift from merely providing a public service at a fixed price for everyone, to providing this service as one of many commercial players in a rapidly evolving and increasingly competitive marketplace.

Competition also no longer respects national borders. Globalization is becoming a central feature of all business. With falling trade barriers, expanding liberalization of markets and dramatic improvements in communications infrastructure, businesses not only face greater competition from abroad within their national borders, but are also seeking new opportunities in international markets. This effect is also felt within the postal service. Postal administrations will in future find it increasingly difficult to hide behind closed domestic markets, protected by a rigid postal monopoly.

Growth in letter volumes predicted

The outlook for...