Russian Post

Russian Post
Почта России
Pochta Rossii

Type	Federal unitary enterprise
Industry	Postal services, courier
Founded	2002
Headquarters	Varshavskoye shosse 37, Moscow, Russia
Key people	Dmitry Strashnov (CEO)
Services	Letter post, parcel service, EMS, delivery, freight forwarding, third-party logistics, deposit accounts
Owner(s)	Government of Russia (100%)
Employees	390,000
Parent	Ministry of Communications and Mass Media
Website	www.russianpost.ru

Russian Post (Russian: Почта России, Pochta Rossii), is a unitary enterprise which is a national postal operator of Russia. The company is responsible for the delivery of mail in Russia, and the issuing of postage stamps. Russian Post employs about 390,000 people and has over 42,000 postal offices, with its headquarters in Moscow.

Russian Post has partnered with Svyaz-Bank in offering banking services at post offices across Russia.

History

Postal office at Arbat street, Moscow

Postal office in Svapushche, Tver Oblast

Russian Post is a founding member of the Universal Postal Union created in 1874. In 1902 Chief Postal Service was made part of the Internal Affairs Ministry and in 1917 under the Provisional Government it became part of Ministry of Post and Telegraph. During the Second World War Soviet postal service part of People's Commissariat of communications was delivering up to 70 million parcels per month to the Soviet army front from the rear under extremely difficult and often very dangerous conditions.

Post-war

In the postwar years-mail has undergone quantitative and qualitative changes. In 1946, the People's Commissariat of Communications of the USSR was transformed into the Ministry of Communications of the USSR. Leaders postal service has been carried out the Post Office, which was part of the Ministry of Communications, along with other offices telecommunications industries. By 1950, the post industry, destroyed by the war, it was restored and brought to the pre-war level.

In subsequent years, significantly expanded network of communication enterprises, especially in rural areas. In the cities and a network of liaison offices, post offices and subordinate communication centers. Most businesses became combine the post, telegraph and telephone. These communications are typically located in the same building and under single management. A huge network was established of mailboxes was that were installed not only in cities but also in rural areas, stations, railway sidings, at the forks of freeways.

Further development of the postal service followed the path of mechanization and automation of mail processing, improving the organization of its transportation and delivery. For this the old postal equipment was modernized and developing the production of its brand new designs - mail processing and handling machines and equipment for container transport, means of mechanization and post inventory, as well as equipment for customer service.

Russian Federation

In 1993 Russian Post became a part of Ministry of Communications. In 1995, the Office was reorganized into the Federal Service of the Russian Federation postal service, and in 1996 it was reorganized into the Department of Post in the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation. Russian postal enterprises were operating and commercial independence, but with it the strong competition posed by former partners Telecommunication companies. Thus, despite the separation of industries, a unique postal network, established in prior periods and covering almost all localities in the country, has been preserved.

Given the role of the Russian post in the historical development of the state, in 1994, Russian President Boris Yeltsin established the professional holiday of postal workers - "Day of the Russian Post", which is celebrated annually on the second July 2. Another presidential decree in 1997 heraldic traditions of Russian mail were restored with the adding of the emblem and flag.

Loss of monopoly

In 1996, the Ministry of Communications for the first time decided to violate the state postal monopoly on some postal services, resulting in Russia have commercial mailing companies.

2002 reform

In accordance with the concept of restructuring the federal postal service, adopted by the Government Decree 28 June 2002, the postal industry in the Russian Federation carried out the reorganization, aimed at creating a single, highly efficient and competitive company able to make a significant contribution to the solution of urgent problems on the accelerated development of the economy. Federal Unitary Enterprise "Russian Post" was created by Government from September 5, 2002 by combining and separating of the postal units from the Ministry of Communication.

In 2008, Andrey Kazmin, former CEO of Sberbank was appointed to the CEO of the company.

Although in January 2009 it was announced that Kazmin had to leave his post as CEO of the Russian Post. Current General Director is Aleksandr Kiselyov.

2010's growing inefficiency and re-subordination

The early 2010s saw rise in the complaints. The number of parcels from foreign on-line retailers has been steady on the rise for several years now and it is bound to grow further. According to Russian Post’s own estimates, orders from Internet shops are delivered to Russia mostly in ordinary or registered parcels: whereas in 2009 there were 2.3 million of them, in 2012 the amount soared to 17 million. On March 6, 2012 five trucks from Germany were in queue for being unloaded at Vnukovo. At the International Post Office there had piled up 12,300 parcels, 5,300 EMS packages, and 36,000 minor incoming parcels. And two thousand parcels were waiting for customs clearance at Sheremetyevo International Airport.

2012 saw the creating of a new resource called "anti-Russianpost.ru" emerged in the world web. The users highlight all instances of Russian Post’s bad work. In the middle of March the clients of on-line retailers launched a massive spam attack on the Moscow office of the Roskomnadzor watchdog. In this period the company received up to 1,000 messages from individuals with complaints about delayed deliveries of purchases made at Internet shops.

On March 2013 Russian Post reported the unfavorable state of affairs to the authorities of higher instance. In a special message Russian Post’s deputy general director, Nina Fetisova, told the Federal Communications Agency Rossvyaz and the Federal Customs Service the processing of international mail was in a critical situation at the customs posts Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo International Airport and also at the Central International Post Office in Moscow.

The director of the federal postal services of the Vologda Oblast said "The reason for delays is not our own ineffectiveness, but the pressure of social factors. We have too many official functions: the delivery of pensions, of written correspondence, and the subscription to newspapers and magazines". In order to improve the services, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a Government Resolution to take the Russian Post out of the sphere of competence of the Federal Communications Agency Rossvyaz, and subordinated it directly to the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media. Also, On April of that year, the General Director of the Post, Alexander Kiselyov was ousted from the office.

See also

• Telecommunications in Russia
• Postage stamps and postal history of Russia
• Media of Russia
• Rostelecom
• Transport in Russia
• Ministry of Communications and Mass Media

• Russian post offices in China
• Russian post offices in the Turkish Empire
• Russian post offices in Crete

External links

• Official website (English) (Russian)