Bastard, has the electronic red letter been stillborn yet? La Poste carries out an initial assessment of the replacement of the red stamp (priority letter) that the public company has decided to suspend.
Questioned during a hearing before the Committee on Economic Affairs of the Senate, Philippe Wahl, general director of La Poste, explains that this new medium is used only 3,500 times a day.
A largely insufficient figure since 5,000 to 10,000 daily shipments would be needed to sustain the service.
“Today, this red e-letter is used 3,500 times a day, which is not much. Either we will find 5,000 to 10,000 people a day who will use this service and continue to maintain it, or nobody will want it,” which means customers “don’t need it anymore and we’ll remove it,” he warned.
complicated use
In fact, La Poste has put an end, on January 1, to the red stamp for urgent letters distributed the next day to replace it with a dematerialized version called “electronic red letter”.
Problem, this device is 100% digital, you have to go to the laposte.fr site or to a post office, via an automaton or with the help of a postman, to send an online document to be printed near the recipient. , it is put in an envelope and distributed the next day if it is sent before 8:00 p.m.
A “complicated” approach as admitted by Philippe Wahl himself and perceived by his detractors as an email that would be paid, billing the service at 1.43 euros.
But for the public company it was necessary to react to the chronic drop in the number of folds sent in general and those franked with a red stamp.
One household only sent 5 letters with red stamps in 2021
“People like the red letter, (but) they no longer write it,” explains the CEO, the number of priority letters has gone from 4,250 million in 2008 to 380 million in 2021 and 275 million in 2022, from 7,000 million letters sent in total per year today.
The number of priority letters sent each year by a French household fell from 45 letters in 2010 to 5 letters in 2021: this drop, rather than a disaffection from the French, is mainly explained by the arrival of the green stamp in 2011 (mail sent in D+2).
“Industrially, the red letter had to be removed” because “needs became so marginal,” continues the leader. “I guess, and if I had to make the decision again, I’d take it back.”
At this rate, “within four years there will be none left”, he said, recalling the savings of some 500 million euros that contribute to “saving the public service”, and the positive impact on the carbon footprint of the interruption of this service
Privacy & Security
The end of the red stamp will allow, in particular, to stop air transport in France and to optimize the filling of trucks.
However, beyond its complexity, the red card raises many privacy and security concerns.
When it is necessary to go to a post office, because you do not have a computer, a postal worker will be in charge of scanning the mail and therefore you will be able to see your correspondence. La Poste ensures that mail will be scanned “in front of the customer” and that its employees will respect confidentiality.
Once printed, the mail will be stored for one year in the group’s data centers so that the sender can access it in the event of a claim. But we know that this storage is, by definition, vulnerable. La Poste wants to be reassuring by evoking “secure” and “France-based” data centers and ensuring compliance with GDPR regulations. Zero risk does not exist.
Source: BFM TV
