“When I visited the post office on Friday, there was nothing there. All cleaned up. By the way, the post office tried to close our branch for the first time in 2008. It was in the year when we commemorated the hundredth anniversary of its opening,” David Jánský, mayor of Jeníkovice, one of the rebelling municipalities, told Novinkám. He is afraid that the post office wants to cancel the brick-and-mortar branch.
According to him, mobile mail is not an equivalent substitute for a brick-and-mortar office. At the very least, they will not ensure opening hours to suit the workers.
“The mobile branch was supposed to operate here only in the morning. There was also a reduction in the number of hours from twelve to ten,” he added. He was bothered by the fact that the municipalities learned about the plans of the post office only a fortnight before the start of the test operation, and the poor communication with the management of the state-owned company.
“That’s why we came up with a slightly more radical solution and didn’t allow the takeover. We gained some time, which we want to use to save the branch,” Jánský added.
Mobile services since 2020
Česká pošta started using mobile mail in 2020. The primary tasks of these establishments were twofold. Provide basic post office counter services in municipalities where there is no brick-and-mortar branch, and cover the failure of postal services in emergency situations. In the past, it was lockdowns of municipalities during covid or a tornado in South Moravia.
“In the municipalities of Blešno, Jeníkovice and Libřice, mobile mail was not actually deployed, because on Friday, May 3, we were informed by the municipalities of Blešno and Jeníkovice that we would not receive permission to occupy municipal premises. The mobile post office would therefore have nowhere to park and where to provide postal services to citizens. We are looking for other alternatives,” said Matyáš Vitík, spokesman for Czech Post.
In the mentioned municipalities, citizens can therefore use the brick-and-mortar post office as before. The next phase of the pilot extended operation will be announced at the moment when the villages where the mobile mail will go will be determined.
Currently, these are municipalities in the Trutnovsk region, specifically from Monday, May 13, after a debate with the mayors, mobile post offices will be located in the municipalities of Vlčice u Trutnova and Libňatov.
Photo: Ludmila Žlábková, novinky.cz
Czech Post started mobile branches four years ago. For example, in the village of Pohoří in Rychnovsk.
The mobile post office can serve three municipalities in one day.
“In the future, we want to equip the mobile post office with Czech POINT, which is not available at branches in smaller municipalities. Our ambition is that in the future mobile post offices can provide, for example, selected services of the Labor Office. We are preparing a pilot project with him at selected brick-and-mortar branches. Based on it, it will be possible to set the parameters on the basis of which the selected agenda of the Labor Office could also be provided on mobile mails,” added spokesman Vitík.
“That’s why we see its potential even in locations where a brick-and-mortar branch exists. There are currently no plans to close branches, the number of 2,900 set by the legislation will remain,” said Vitík, adding that from the point of view of the legislation, a brick-and-mortar branch, a Partner post office or a mobile post office are on the same level.
They fear closure
The mayor of Blešna, Miloš Buroň (bezp.), confirmed that the main reason why the municipalities did not agree to the takeover permit was the fear that the post office would cancel their brick-and-mortar branch after the test operation.
“It’s a targeted step to eliminate brick-and-mortar branches,” he told ČTK Buroň, recalling that the municipality replaced the entrance doors and windows in the building with the post office at its own expense last year, based on the post office’s request. According to him, the post office pays the municipality four thousand crowns per year for the rent of the branch.
“Now, instead of processing in the comfort of a branch, people would go to the van. The mobile post office would reduce opening hours by forty percent from seventeen to ten hours a week,” said the mayor.
The Post is again offering a building in Jindřišská for 1.5 billion. He no longer insists on maintaining the branch
Economy
