Czech Post plans to increase the number of partner post offices from the current 920 to 1,000 this year. They will thus make up more than a third of the entire postal network of 2,900 branches, announced Matyáš Vitík, spokesman for the company. Last year, the post office closed 300 branches without compensation due to cost savings.
According to the spokesman, the Pošta Partner project is legally anchored in a contractual relationship between the Czech Post and a municipality or private operator. “However, the way to reach this agreement is individual in each case. It is not possible to mechanically transfer branches to partner establishments without taking into account specific local conditions and without taking into account the historical context,” he said.
Most recently, the Czech Post agreed to transfer the branch to the municipality in Nezdenice. Part of the agreement includes the possibility to buy the building in which the post office is located. “Once the historical legal and contractual ties have been resolved, the entire transfer can be implemented,” said Miroslav Štěpán, director general of the Czech Post.
The Czech Post is currently negotiating the sale of the buildings in which the branches were located in several towns and villages. These include Brno, Aš and Olomouc.
According to the project approved by the government, the post office, which has been running at a loss in recent years, is to be split into a branch network operator and a parcel company providing commercial parcel and logistics services from next year.
Source: Czech Post and CTK
