| NOTAS: | "The postal market is digitalising and changing. PTS notes that the number of letters sent in Sweden has decreased by 183 million, corresponding to 8.3 percent, during 2018. This is the biggest ever reduction. At the same time, the use of digital communications is increasing and nearly three million people over the age of 18 in Sweden choose to receive post from companies and authorities through a secure digital mailbox. Individuals and organisations increasingly shop online, send more parcels and have higher expectations for deliveries. Growth in e-commerce has been between 15 and 20 per cent in recent years.
The poorer profitability of postal operators due to reduced letter volumes, despite some relief from increased parcel revenues, represents a challenge for them, which has meant that they have attempted to adapt their activities to meet the volume downturn. The changes in operations have sometimes occurred at a rate that has caused distribution problems, which in turn has contributed to the perception among individuals and companies that postal delivery is not as reliable as before. During 2018, the reliability of the delivery operations has become more stable. PTS stresses that it is essential that in the future, operators can implement changes without adversely affecting reliability and quality.
However, as society's needs for postal services change, the general level of service needs to be adapted accordingly. From the needs surveys the authority has made in recent years, it is clear that the general need for the delivery of post and primarily written communications five days a week has diminished in recent years. Five per cent state that they need five-day letter delivery and 37 per cent that they need letter and parcel delivery five days a week. However, delivery reliability for letters and parcels is still highly rated, as is the possibility of influencing where a parcel is delivered. Sweden is therefore following the same development as other Nordic and European countries.
To ensure that today's and tomorrow's basic needs for postal services can be met across the country, users and society will need to be open to new delivery solutions and changes in the frequency of delivery. This means that post recipients living in cities may have to go a little farther to their mailbox, for the benefit of those living in the sparsely populated parts of the country who are generally already at some distance from the postal service. Users may simply have to accept changes to the postal service, which they take for granted today, in order to enable the efficient and sustainable delivery of letters and parcels which is as far as possible self-financing. During 2019, PTS will continue to carry out needs studies and, among other things, study what the consequences would be for users and society in the event of changes in the frequency of delivery. Any proposed changes to the regulation must be well substantiated and justified." |
