UPU News:-Non-traditional mail services on the rise

Letter-post volumes are down, but other postal services are quickly filling in the gap, according to the UPU’s latest statistics for 2010.

Letter-post is still in business (Photo: Archive)

 

Letter-post still provides the bulk of global postal revenues; accounting for 46 percent in 2010. That’s down from 54 per cent in 2001. Global postal revenues generated at least 331 billion USD in 2010.

Though letter-post volumes are generally declining, they are booming in several developing countries. Volumes soared in Lebanon and Albania during the 2001 to 2010 period with increases of 281 per cent and 314 per cent respectively.

But high letter-post volumes do not go hand-in-hand with development, says José Ansón, an economist with the UPU. “For a long time, economic growth was helping boost letter-post volumes in industrialized countries. Today, this close relationship between economic growth and postal traffic is not so evident,” says Ansón.

Rise of new services

While the popularity of the letter diminishes, postal financial services, parcels and logistics services, and other products have been on the increase, says UPU statistician Matthias Helble.

“As Posts diversify their activities, they either introduce new products and services or focus on expanding traditional ones. So, while revenues from letter post are decreasing, we see upward trends in those generated by parcels, logistics and postal financial services over the last 10 years,” says Helble.

Postal financial services comprised 17.3 per cent of global postal revenues in 2010, up 3.8 per cent compared to 10 years ago. A case in point is Hungary’s Post, which reported that revenues from these services increased 39 per cent between 2001 and 2010, reaching a 59 per cent share of total revenues in 2010.

Increasing share

Also parcel and logistics services now hold a more prominent share in global postal revenues. Posts saw a 7.7 per cent increase in these services between 2001 and 2010. In 2010, they accounted for 15.7 per cent of global postal revenues, likely due to the growth of e-commerce.

Several countries reported more dramatic changes. Parcel and logistics services accounted for 77 per cent of Philippine Post’s total revenues in 2010, a significant increase from its eight per cent share of 2001’s revenues. Parcel and logistics services volumes leapt from three per cent of India Post’s total revenues in 2001, to 40 per cent in 2010.

Though financial and parcel and logistics services are on the rise, the “other products” category generated the second highest percentage of global postal revenues. These products now account for 21 per cent of global postal revenue, down from 25 per cent in 2001. Items in the “other products” category might include new electronic services and retail products.

Nearly 6.1 billion domestic, and 43.6 million international parcels were sent in 2010, while all mail accounted for 376 billion and 4.8 billion respectively.