The company Latvijas pasts has submitted a draft tariff for a universal postal service to the Public Services Regulatory Commission (SPRK). It is planned that from January 1, 2025, prices for postal services will increase, as evidenced by a publication in the official publication Latvijas vēstnesis. The change in tariffs is due to a decrease in demand for traditional postal services, changes in customer habits, an increase in transport and logistics costs, an increase in energy prices and an increase in wages. employee fees Latvijas pasts. The cost of sending a parcel (weighing from 1.001 to two kilograms) within Latvia will increase from 4.76 euros to 5.11 euros (+7.3%); a registered parcel (of the same weight) will cost 7.05 euros instead of the current 6.21 euros (+13.5%), and the price of a domestic insured parcel (of the same weight) will decrease from 6.93 euros to 6.35 euros (- 8.4%). At the same time, it should be remembered that insured parcels are subject to an additional fee of 2% of the insured amount. Sending a regular letter weighing up to 20 grams will cost 2.25 euros (+36.4%) instead of the current 1.65 euros, and 4.15 euros instead of 3.1 euros (+33.9%) for a registered letter. In turn, sending an insured letter will become 9.9% more expensive – you will have to pay 4.2 euros instead of the current 3.82 euros. The discount on registered and insured parcels at Mans pasts will be reduced by 40.7% – from 0.59 to 0.35 euros. It is also planned to increase delivery rates for subscribed printed publications. Taking into account the government's compensation mechanism for newspaper delivery, the cost of delivering one printed item to publishers will increase on average from €0.15 to €0.18, representing an increase of €1.5 per weekly publication over the course of the year. Prices will also change for sending international parcels and letters. For example, the cost of sending a simple letter to the USA weighing up to 20 grams will double – from 1.83 to 3.72 euros, and sending a registered parcel to the USA (up to one kilogram) will become cheaper and will cost 20.6 instead of 23.91 euros. Sending a registered parcel to Estonia (weighing up to two kilograms) will become cheaper and from the new year will cost 12.88 euros, instead of the current 14.24 euros, and to Lithuania – 14.75 euros instead of 17.26 euros. The universal postal service is a set of high-quality postal services that are available to every resident of Latvia at a single rate, regardless of geographic location. The service provider is obliged to ensure the delivery of correspondence and parcels, as well as the subscribed press. Latvijas Pasts' obligations for the universal postal service are for five years – from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026. As reported, Latvijas Pasts has reviewed and changed its strategic goals in the further development of the post office network. Let us recall that this year it was planned to close 105 of 176 post offices, but the reorganization plan was suspended. As a result, it was decided to close only 12 post offices – in Cesis, Jelgava, Jurmala, Liepaja Ogre, Riga and Valmiera. The closure of branches will occur gradually until the end of this year. Residents will be informed about the availability of postal and financial services, as well as the location of the nearest post offices. The functions of closed post offices will be taken over by other post offices operating in the respective city, and Latvijas Pasts will expand the network of parcel terminals. These changes will affect 35 employees. Each person will have a personal meeting, during which the employee will be offered other employment opportunities in the company.
