Ceska posta, the state-owned postal company, has decided to compete with a growing number of private companies for a share of the parcel delivery market. Private companies have reacted with greater agility in the past few years to the growing volume of goods being delivered to consumers who shop online. WeDo, a new player backed by the powerful private equity group PPF, announced its ambitions at the beginning of November. But now, Ceska posta has revealed that it will cooperate with the lottery company Sazka to open a total of 1,500 new Balikovna pick-up locations by the end of the month. Already 1,100 have opened, while another 400 will open before December, in time for the holiday shopping rush. That would give Ceska posta a total of 2,000 pick-up points in addition to its network of post offices. Customers will be able to pay for goods with a credit or debit card. “Cooperation with Sazka and the expansion of the network has two important advantages,” said Balikovna’s director Jana Sedlakova. “We’ll be closer to our clients than we were before and we’ll spread interest in parcel services beyond just the current network of post offices.” Its competitor WeDo already offers 1,000 pick-oup points, while another network called Zasilkovna has 4,000 pick-up points.
