La Poste (France)

thumb|150px|right|Logo of the Post office, used of 1984 to 2005 the French post office , whose official company name is La Poste , is, since 1991, a “national public corporation equipped with a Comptable public”, under the terms of of July 2nd, 1990 which reformed the institution. With its subsidiary companies, it sets up the second European postal group after the Deutsche Post, the privatized German post office.

The group is in particular charged to ensure the postal Universal service. It is a mission of Public service which consists in conveying the Correspondance written and the objects, between the people and the companies. Originally this service was organized by the State for its internal communication and the transmission of the orders, of the relationship, between the various levels of its administration.

History

It is beginning of the 17th century which date the origin of the administration of the stations in France, with the creation of the “letter post”, directed by the general superintendent of the stations. At the time the port was paid by the recipient.

La Poste, in the form of the autonomous establishment of public law current exists since 1991. It was before a administration, known under the name of postal and telecommunications authorities, attached to the Ministère of the Posts and telecommunications. This administration had been divided as of 1988, the telecommunications part becoming autonomous under the name of France Telecom. The two administrations, that of the stations, and that which was then the telegraph, had been amalgamated in 1879 to form the administration of the stations and telegraphs.

Starting from January 1st, 2006, La Poste:

can propose with its customers, via the Postal bank, created for this purpose, the whole of the banking services and in particular propose most of the panoply of the Crédit S, in particular real estate. The consumer credits are not authorized yet.
loses the monopoly of the routing which it had on the letters of more than 50 grams which is opened with competition as from this date.

presidents of the Post office

The president of the Post office is named by decree in the Council of Ministers, on a proposal from the board of directors of the Post office.

Yves Cousquer: December 1990 - December 1993
Andre Darrigrand: December 1993 - December 1996
Claude Bourmaud: December 1996 - December 2000
Martin Vial: December 2000 - September 2002
Jean-Paul Bailly: since September 2002

managing directors

before 1991

Exit of postal and telecommunications authorities, the La Poste company is the result of a long story. One of the turnings marking of this one, the point of view of the organization, dated May 10th, 1946. A decree creates within the postal and telecommunications authorities two head offices: the DGT (Head office of telecommunications) and the DGP (Head office of the post office). Certain holders of this function marked the evolution of the post office.

Joseph-Jean Mouel: 1946 - 1954
Marcel Falcon: 1954 - 1963
Rene Joder: 1963 - 1978
Emile Simon: 1978 - 1980
Jean Babin: 1980 - 1982
Jacques Daucet: 1982 - 1984
Marcel Roulet: 1984 - 1986
Gerard Delage: 1986 - 1989
Yves Cousquer: 1989 - 1990

since 1991

The managing director of the Post office, assists the president of the Post office, by which it is named.

Fernand Vieilledent: January 1991 - December 1993
Claude Bourmaud: December 1993 - December 1996
Claude Viet: December 1996 - November 1997
Martin Vial: November 1997 - December 2000
Daniel Caille: April 2001 - April 2002
Georges Lefebvre: April 2002 -

Activities

La Poste is an important group carrying on four principal activities/trades:

the trade Mail,
the trade Parcel and express train,
the finance departments (transferred on January 1st, 2006 to the Postal bank created for this purpose),
the trade " large network public" today called " La Poste General public and Territorial" Development;

These four activities are supported in-house by a fifth branch called " Services transverses".

The group has a network of 17 000 " points of contacts" distributed on the whole of the French territory.

La Poste is signatory of the Pacte SME.

Financial data

Its quality of service increased by 10 points on the mail (76% of J+1 for the letter) and by 5 on the parcel (87% of J+2 for the colissimo).

En million euros.

Subsidiary companies

Station Immo - 100.00%
SCI 44 Vaugirard - 100.00%
Mixed SCI Tertiary - 100.00%
GeoPost - 100.00%

Chronopost

SofiPost - 100.00%

Médiapost

the Postal bank - 100.00% (in the past Efiposte)

Sofrepost
ColiPoste - 100.00%

Privatization

On the one hand, the partisans of competition or privatization claim that the transport of the parcels and folds express train, as well as the finance departments, would be proposed with lower costs for a better quality while leaving attributions of the State, but especially that would correspond to an useless violation of freedom to impose a single postal service. They also claim that competition could propose tariffs more interesting for a service of better quality, and that this competition would force the Post office to follow these evolutions.

In addition, of the opponents to the economic liberalism dispute this vision of the things: according to them, a competition or a privatization could on the contrary generate a raising of prices of the products of station, a deterioration of the quality of the latter and dismissals (related to a division of the activity with the competitors) which they describe as solid masses. The consequences of the competition between various companies of station and La Poste, can generate according to them only problems and inefficiency. They fear for example the disappearance of the tariff Péréquation which would lead to the closing of the nonprofitable post offices, in particular in the rural areas or the disadvantaged urban areas or the districts with the growing old population.

The companies private of station would have mission of being focused on the most profitable sectors (urban environments dense), which makes fear that is with the public Post office to cover them at a loss, or to see reducing quality (frequency of delivery), of increase in the tariffs for these zones and of reduction of the least used offices. This last evolution (to make so that all the sectors are profitable, therefore loss of the Péréquation) would be mechanically inevitable in the case of a privatization of the Post office.

The partisans of competition estimate the equalization is not a mechanism right, with the direction where each one should pay for the service which it uses, and not to make it pay by others (for the example of the Post office the users of the urban areas pay the overcost of the inhabitants of the rural areas) what puts an end to philosophy public service, namely the access to the same quality of service for all and at the same price (philosophy which implies a solidarity between the social classes in particular richer towards the most stripped).

Wrongly or rightly these organizations oppose to this privatization or competition the English experiment of privatization of Royal Mail, like that of the Swedish post office, which according to them are from all points of view of the failures.

For these organizations the stakes on the employment and the future of the personnel of the stations, are the leading cause of their disputes. The Swedish post office whose manpower was tiny room of approximately 30.000 people, about half of the total staff complement, is regularly taken in example to show the error which represent, deprivations or competition of the services of station.

The partisans of competition or privatization suspect these organizations, such as the trade unions, the left-wing political parties and those known as of extreme left, to only worry very little about the customers and much more of the post-office employees. They suspect these organizations of denying the interest of the people, that of the customers, for the only defense of the interests of the civils servant of the stations.

The trade-union organizations such as CUS postal and telecommunications authorities denounces the creation of the Postal bank criticizing the transfer of public inheritance in a private structure, which they describe as “ plundering ”, these organizations fear that the social function of the Post office is still faded (logic of sale of the most profitable products financial for the Postal bank and not of the most adapted to the user as it was the case in the past) what will make even more difficult the installation of the universal bank service, these organizations denounce also the risk of an economic model qualified of “ nonviable ”.

To relativize it will be noted that only 10% of the mail in France originate in the private individuals and that viability supposes that the other users (undertaken and public agencies) there find their account, in particular as regards cost. However the percentage is opposite with regard to the recipients of the mail who are mainly private individuals and thus finally viability also supposes that one takes account of the private individuals.

See too

History and philately

Stations, telegraphs and telephones (France) | Museum of the Post office | French Trade unionism of the postal and telecommunications authorities | Phil@poste | Air-mail

Technique and logistics

External bonds

La Poste, official site
the site Export of the Post office dedicated to the TPE-PME
Laposte.net free Email of the compatible Post office IMAP.
Report/ratio of the French senate on La Poste
La Poste the U.K. - Activities of the Group in the United Kingdom

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