“Shut down that damn Postnord, everything is going to be outrageously more expensive and much worse service! Let someone else take over, it can’t be that much worse than it is now! Fraud!”
“I guess we’ll have to go to the postal terminal ourselves soon and pick up our mail”
“They are scandal should not get where left on the market away with them now.”
The quote comes from Nyheter24’s reader, and are written under a article about Postnord that was posted on Facebook on March 5.
Postnord’s latest change – getting slower
From 2022, Postnord distributes letters every other day. Photo: Helena Landstedt/TT Millions of letters delayed – Postnord has gotten worse
But where does all the anger come from and is it justified? In a series of articles, Nyheter24 will examine Postnord and why mail delivery is getting worse and worse.
Postnord, which was formed in 2009 when Posten and Post Danmark merged, is owned by the Swedish and Danish states. They are tasked with delivering letters and packages, but there is a requirement. According to the mandate from the Swedish Post and Telecommunications Board (PTS,) 95 percent of domestic letters in Sweden must be delivered within two days.
A task that does not work as it should, and which Postnord has only managed to live up to three times, since the every other day delivery of letters was introduced throughout the country starting in May 2022.
After extensive complaints PTS began an audit of how Postnord handled the delivery of mail in Sweden summer 2022. The review showed that the mail was not delivered as required. Throughout 2022, Postnord delivered 94.7 percent of letters on time.
A year and a half later, in December 2023, PTS concluded its investigation after Postnord was reprimanded twice. It was then assessed that the company had a “clear plan for maintaining a reliable operation”.
– During the summer, the operator added all the necessary measures, and they said they would come back to the track after the summer, and they did that in September and October, says Emma Maraschin, head of PTS unit for postal issues, to Nyheter24.
Customers’ rage against Postnord’s new demands: “Completely senseless”
Emma Maraschin, head PTS unit for postal issues. Photo: PTS
Then, in December 2023, Postnord delivered 89.86 percent of all letters within two days, which is a clear deterioration compared to the average for 2022, according to the company’s statistics which Nyheter24 has taken notice of.
Overall, during 2023, millions of letters were delayed, and Postnord only received 93.13 percent on time. The letter requirement was not met in January 2024 either, but in February.
How do you see Postnord getting worse?
– It is a question we have under the microscope all the time. We have meetings with the operator to ensure that they do everything they can to reach the requirement and we continue to follow the development, says Emma Maraschin.
In 2023, there were 28,083 complaints regarding domestic letters, and 5,734 regarding letters sent abroad, according to statistics from PTS that Nyheter24 has seen. Compared to last year, customer opinions have decreased by 2 percent, but seen over a longer period of time, complaints have increased sharply.
– The mail doesn’t arrive on time, so of course people complain that you get bills or doctor’s appointments late, says Emma Maraschin and continues:
– We do measurements at regular intervals where we look at people’s experience, and we can see that satisfaction has decreased.
PTS review: Tightening Postnord
Screenshot: Postnord’s annual and sustainability report 2023 Watch worth SEK 14,000 disappeared
There are many examples of how Postnord failed in the handling of letters and parcels. News24 have spoken to two people who were affected in different ways by the postal service’s deteriorating service.
Elliot Shreiner had ordered a watch worth SEK 14,000. The watch was to be delivered with Postnord and a message was sent that it could be picked up. But there was no watch at the agent’s place, and according to the agent, it had never been delivered.
The watch never arrived and when Elliot Schreiner complained, it turned out that Postnord has no responsibility for what is delivered in the packages.
– They are thus conducting an activity for which they themselves do not take responsibility. As if I, as the captain of a ship, were to tell my guests that “I am not responsible for your safety on board, blame yourselves,” says Elliot Shreiner.
Anna Pettersson have daily problems with letter delivery.
– The mail very often arrives several weeks late, she says and continues:
– I often get my neighbors’ mail in my mailbox. And my mail ends up with other people. It happens very often. Despite the fact that the name on the door is not even the same.
The CEO Annemarie Gardshol raised the salary several times
In December 2022, Postnord’s CEO Annemarie Garshol raised her own salary by 19 percent. This means that she received a monthly salary of SEK 842,000 a month, which corresponds to approximately 30 postman salaries.
At the same time, the salary increase for postmen was 2.7 percent, who then had an average salary of SEK 26,000 a month. Even the year before, Gardshol made a substantial salary increase. Postnord’s CEO then raised his salary by 21 percent, which was the most of all state company managers that year.
At the same time, the company carried out several cutbacks. In January 2023, 200 employees in administration and sales within Postnord were notified.
Annemarie Gardshol’s salary development has received criticism. The appeal “Postnord: Yes to more postmen, no to extremely high executive salaries!” currently has just over 34,000 signatures.
– Annemarie has a crazy high salary and I understand that it sticks in the eyes of our members. There are huge differences when compared to what a postman, driver or terminal worker has, says Sandra Swedishchairman Seko Posten to Nyheter24.
Postnord CEO’s salary: This is how much Annemarie Gardshol earns
Annemarie Gardshol. Photo: Stina Stjernkvist/TTL Low trust in Postnord
In the “Trust Barometer” for 2024, Postnord ends up in seventh place among the companies that Swedes trust the least.
In 2015, every second Swede had confidence in “Posten”, but today the figure is down to 19 percent. It is the lowest figure since 2020.
The Minister of Civil Affairs: “I expect Postnord to deliver”
In an interview with Today’s news on March 29, Annemarie Gardshol went out and threatened to resign from the task of delivering the mail in Sweden, if she did not get two demands through:
In an email to Nyheter24, the civil minister comments Eric Slottner the statement from Postnord’s CEO:
“I expect PostNord to deliver on the tasks they have. Among other things, that letters must be distributed throughout the country. The Post and Telecommunications Authority (PTS) is responsible for reviewing how the company lives up to the legal requirements.”
The requirements Gardshol set are the same as those reported in the postal financing investigation “Postal service for the whole penny”which the government published on 30 January 2023. The inquiry was tasked with finding a financing model for the post, when it “can no longer be fully self-financed”.
“Since the matter is still under preparation, I cannot comment further at this time,” writes Erik Slottner
Nyheter24 has on several occasions sought Annemarie Gardshol and the person in charge at Postnord for an interview, but they have declined to participate due to “time and availability”.
Postcode on the low trust: “Tough list”
Do you know more?
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