Lion's share
The latest statistics on the public postal sector from the UPU reveal that consumers spent more on postal services in 2014 than during the previous year – expenditure was up 2 per cent in nominal terms to 239 billion SDR (330 billion USD), fuelled in part by e-commerce.
Letter post generally remained the chief source of income for Posts in 2012 – accounting for a worldwide average of 41.8 percent of revenues, despite volumes continuing their downward slide. Total worldwide letter-post traffic declined by an estimated 2.6 per cent to 327.4 billion items, but the weight of the same increased by 31 per cent. This increase hints at the popularity of sending items often bought online and weighing up to 2 kg by letter post, a cheaper option than sending through parcel post.
Public holidays
The public holidays of the UPU member countries concerning the delivery of letter-post can be consulted in the Parcel Post Compendium as the dates are the same.
Key documents
Letter Post Regulations and Final Protocol
Having regard to article 22, paragraph 5, of the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union concluded at Vienna on 10 July 1964, the Postal Operations Council has drawn up the following measures for ensuring the implementation of the rules applicable in common throughout the international postal service and the provisions on the Letter Post.
Letter post compendium
Delivery standards
The delivery standards of letters (Air and Surface letter) are published in the Letter post compendium online.
Force majeure
Force majeure is an event or occurrence which prevents a designated operator to fulfil its obligations relating to quality of service or performance owing to reasons external to its control and which are not attributable to any act or failure of the designated operator.
In most cases this includes events such as war, acts of nature, destruction of facilities, and labour strikes.
Process
When a designated operator experiences an event or occurrence that may be considered force majeure for letter-post items, parcel-post items or EMS items, it must:
- Fill out the below form, Force majeure – Open case, with all required information
- Send it to the International Bureau within 24 hours of the event taking place by either fax +41 31 350 31 10 or e-mail.
- When the event has ended, open the same document and fill in the second part of the form, Force majeure – Closed case, and send it as provided on the form.
Forms
Specific rules and procedures