Latvijas pasts will retain 155 post offices in Latvia and close only 12. At the same time, as demand for traditional postal services is declining and company costs are rising, a new draft tariff for the universal postal service has been presented to the Public Services Regulatory Commission (SPRK). The new prices will come into force on January 1, 2025, the company said. Recognizing the high importance of access to postal services in the regions of Latvia, as well as taking care of less protected residents, Latvijas Pasts has reviewed and changed its strategic goals in the further development of the post office network. 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 machines. 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. Chairman of the Board of Latvijas Pasts Beate Krause-Cebotare notes that the company has worked hard to expand its service portfolio and introduce new digital tools, but for various reasons, some residents of Latvia do not use them and prefer traditional methods of receiving services. “After negotiations with the Ministry of Transport, it was decided to maintain the widest possible network of post offices throughout Latvia, based on the principle that the standard is not digital literacy, but older people in the regions,” Krause-Cebotare noted. She added that in many cities there are plans to move post offices to shopping centers, extending opening hours. At the same time, due to a decrease in demand for traditional postal services, changing customer habits, rising transport and logistics costs, rising energy prices and rising employee salaries, Latvijas Pasts developed and submitted to the Public Services Regulatory Commission a new draft tariff for the universal postal service. For example, the cost of sending a regular letter weighing up to 20 grams will be increased from 1.65 to 2.25 euros. 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. 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. As previously reported, Latvijas pasts planned to close 105 of 176 post offices this year, but the reorganization plan was suspended.
