(2006) – (06.2008)Overview
The postal sector is an important sector in Member States of the European Union. The national postal operator is one of the largest employers in most countries and the postal service is offered in every corner of the European Union, allowing almost every citizen to access the postal network relatively easily. In addition, the postal sector is of major economic importance. All together the EU 25 national postal operators generate a turnover of over € 88 billion representing approximately 1% of EU GDP. The EU 15 national postal operators generate together 95% of the total turnover of national postal operators, with the remaining EU 10 (NMS) another 5% of total turnover.
Consumer satisfaction with Postal services is generally very high. 74% of all consumers stated in a survey undertaken by the Commission that they were satisfied with Postal services, which represents the highest level of satisfaction amongst the services of general interest participating in the survey.
The regulatory pressure to improve quality of postal service is crucial for the success of the internal market for postal services, and it has proven successful as shown notably by the UNEX (monitoring system which measures end-to-end postal delivery performance for intra-European priority letter mail, from time of posting to time of delivery) results published by International Post Corporation (IPC).
The number of contact points (letter boxes and post offices) and public tariffs, for which only minimum guidelines are specified at EU level, vary widely between EU Member States. Letter volumes per country and per capita also differ widely across Member states.
Volumes
MS domestic letter post: average annual growth, 1998-2002
Source: WIK 2004
MS domestic letter post: items per capita, 2002
Source: WIK 2004
