Posti Group
 | |
| Public limited company | |
| Industry | postal service, logistics, financial process automation |
| Founded | 1638 |
| Headquarters | Helsinki, Finland |
| EUR 1,608 million (2016) | |
| Owner | Government of Finland |
Number of employees | 20,500 (2016 on average)[1] |
| Website | www.posti.com |
Posti Group Corporation (previously Itella during 2007–2015) is the main Finnish postal service delivering mail and parcels in Finland. The State of Finland is the sole shareholder of the company. Posti Ltd has a universal service obligation that entails weekday deliveries of letters in all of Finland’s municipalities. Posti’s head office is located in Pohjois-Pasila in Helsinki. Posti’s history spans nearly 400 years.
The Finnish company is divided into four business groups: Postal Services, Parcel and Logistics Services, Itella Russia and OpusCapita. Posti’s net sales in 2016 amounted to EUR 1,608 million. Posti has 20,500 employees. Of the net sales, approximately 96% comes from businesses and organizations. The company’s key customer sectors are commerce, services and media.
As of 2015 the group is headed by Heikki Malinen, and Arto Hiltunen is Chairman of the Board of Directors. The company has operations in ten countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Russia and Estonia. Åland Post is the independent postal operator for the Åland Islands.
Operations
Postal Services handles the delivery of letters, direct mail, and newspapers and magazines in Finland through its subsidiary Posti Oy. Delivery personnel also offer check-in and assistance services for the elderly, and in 2016 ran a pilot program offering lawn mowing.[2] Home services help public and private home care providers be more efficient and flexible in producing their services
Parcel and Logistics Services offers comprehensive supply chain solutions, parcel and e-commerce services, transport services, international road, air, sea and rail freight services, warehousing or supplementary services and customs clearance services. The company provides global services through its partners.
Itella Russia provides logistics services in Russia.
OpusCapita provides financial process automation. OpusCapita has operations in eight European countries (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden) and a network of international partners covering the globe.
Historical background
- On 6 September 1638, Governor-General Per Brahe established postal services in Finland, part of the Kingdom of Sweden at the time.
- In 1811, a central postal administration was established within the postal services of autonomous Finland.
- In 1845, postal service for parcels began.
- In 1856, stamps were introduced. Finland's began issuing its own national stamps in autumn 1917.
- In 1858, home delivery of letters and newspapers began.
- Posti was one of the first institutions to hire women as employees, doing so since the 1860s.
- In 1927, the Telegraph was merged with the Finnish Post (Posti).
- In 1981, Post and Telegraph was renamed Post and Telecommunications.
- In 1990, Posti-Tele became a state-owned enterprise no longer dependent on the state budget.
- In 1994, Post and Telecommunications became Suomen PT Oy, with the subsidiaries Finland Post Corporation, providing postal services, and Telecom Finland Oy (later Sonera Oy), engaged in telecommunications.
- In 1998, Suomen PT Group was demerged. Finland Post Corporation and Sonera Oy became state-owned enterprises.
- In 2001, Finland Post became a public company (as Finland Post Corporation).
- Since 1 June 2007, the company name has been Itella Corporation. The group's more diversified and internationalised business operations were the reason for the change of name.
- In 2008 Itella acquired in Russia the logistics company NLC (National Logistic Company) and Connexions company, specialising in direct marketing services. In Poland Itella acquired BusinessPoint S.A., specialising in printing and document management.
- In 2011, Finnish postal services have been transferred to a new company, Itella Posti Oy.
- In 2011, Itella Information acquired OpusCapita, Itella Information acquired OpusCapita expanding services to cash flow automation.
- Itella Bank started as a deposit bank in the beginning of 2012.
- In 2013, Itella divested the entire share capital of Itella Bank Ltd to Savings Banks. In connection with the divestment, the name of the bank will change to Bank of Savings Banks Ltd.
- In 2013, Itella Information was renamed OpusCapita. It operates as a subgroup of Itella Group.
- On 1 January 2015, Itella Corporation and its subsidiary Itella Posti were merged and renamed Posti Group.
- In 2015, Posti sold its Scandinavian road freight business operations to the Danish Nordic Transport Group (NTG).
- Posti launched the first municipal cooperation within Posti’s new home services with the South Karelia Social and Health Care District Eksote.
- Posti acquired Kuljetus Kovalainen and Veine, a company specializing in temperature-regulated logistics.
Postal Services
Domestic postal services were centralized in Posti Oy. Posti has more than 1,400 service points: post offices, of which most are in conjunction with companies run by local entrepreneurs, Parcel Points, and pick-up outlets. There are SmartPOST automatic parcel terminals also in Estonia.
As of February 2011, Finland will be the first country in the world to receive all letters, publications, packages and direct advertisements through carbon-neutral delivery by Posti. This does not involve any extra fees to the customers.
Posti Group is solely responsible for providing postal services. In its current form, the Post Act entered into force in 2011. By virtue of this act, postal services must be provided on a permanent basis and for reasonable prices to all users, throughout the country. In each municipality there must be at least one outlet providing postal services.
The responsibility for the general steering and development of postal services belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Also the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, acting under this ministry, participates in the development of postal services. Among its tasks are monitoring to ensure that the Act on Postal Services and its regulations and provisions are complied with, as well as handling customer feedback.
The basic mail delivery is open to competition and some companies are starting to deliver business letters in populated areas.
International operations
In 2016, Posti established a network of pickup points in the Baltic countries.
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Estonia: Itella Eesti -
Finland: Posti -
Latvia: Itella Latvija -
Lithuania: Itella Lietuva -
Russia: Itella Россия