I have always wondered what is the real difference between priority mail (“prior”) and non-priority (“non-prior”) mail in Belgium. Apparently the meaning became quite pronounced four years ago when bPost decided to only deliver non-prior mail twice per week.
I have noticed that mail has slowed down but I did not attribute it to anything. I’ve noticed that it usually takes at least 1 week for a letter to travel from Brussels to Brussels. Well this article has the answer.
Recently a letter arrived to me from a public service with “non-prior” rubber-stamped on it. I wondered what is the point? Why stamp non-prior when that is likely the default service anyway. It’s as if the sender wants to say: “please ensure this letter doesn’t move too quick”.
The costly EU postage stamps I complained about have “prior” integrated into the stamp and the domestic stamps I have do not. I guess I will see if I can find non-prior EU stamps to save money.
Another mystery: the election mail that arrived very late (a week after the election) was delivered on Saturday. Seems weird that non-priority mail would get Saturday delivery, but perhaps extreme tardiness changes things.
Anyway, this is the English translation of the linked article:
From March 2020, bpost will limit the delivery of letters franked with a normal stamp to twice a week, according to the columns of “La Dernière Heure” on Tuesday. However, “prior” stamped mail, parcels and newspapers will continue to be delivered daily.
On Tuesday morning, bpost CEO Koen Van Gerven stated on radio 1 that the delivery of letters franked with a normal stamp should take place on Mondays and Wednesdays.
This measure is justified because while in 2011, 12 million letters were still delivered per day, this figure had fallen to barely 7.7 million in 2018, the public company indicates. In addition, only one in two homes receives mail every day. “While the costs of this round remain the same”, emphasizes Keon Van Gerven.
This summer, bpost will test the system in a few offices. “Customers won’t notice anything for now. It’s just a discreet survey to understand how we organize the rounds, how the mail is delivered.”
In order to “ensure the viability of correspondence in the long term”, bpost will group non-urgent mail together from March and post it twice a week, in response to customer expectations. “Today, 80% of the stamps sold are not ‘prior’ and 20% are. The customer’s signal is therefore clear: we want a fifth of the mail urgently”, the CEO further emphasizes.
You will have to pay more to benefit from a fast service
Urgent mail, however, will continue to be delivered every day: parcels, newspapers, registered letters, death notices and “prior” letters.
The decision to no longer deliver non-urgent mail on a daily basis was taken in July last year and was normally due to be implemented in 2021. However, the implementation was brought forward to 2020, due to the faster-than-expected decline in mail.
The unions will monitor the project closely. “We must of course evolve, but citizens have the right to maintain full access to the postal service. What we see is that they will have to pay more to benefit from a fast service. And the staff must also maintain their status”.
The unions are arguing in particular for mail and parcel deliveries to be kept grouped together. “Otherwise, management will soon create a separate company that will only handle parcels and for which staff will be hired with precarious contracts”.
The disappearance of the daily postman’s visit is a very sensitive point since it is an obligation that is included in bpost’s management contract. However, other countries have already experimented with the future Belgian system. In Italy and the Netherlands, mail delivery has been limited. And in Denmark, non-urgent mail is only delivered once a week.