The red stamp lives its last months. La Poste will stop selling, from January 1, 2023, this little piece of paper which guaranteed “priority mail” to be delivered the next day, she announced Thursday, July 21. In question, the evolution of “uses” and “a very heavy energy balance”. Franceinfo tells you more about this little revolution.
1What did La Poste announce?
The public group has announced that it will review the range of basic postal services on January 1, 2023, to save money and try to follow the evolution of uses, faced with the boom in electronic messaging and online payments. instead of checks sent by mail.
In this context, the red stamp, which ensured the distribution of “priority” mail on D+1 and which was sold for 1.43 euros, will cease to be marketed from January 1, 2023.
2Why remove the red stamp?
“D+1 volumes have been divided by 14 since 2008”with currently 300 million items out of the seven billion letters sent by La Poste in the year (twice as many as in 2013), justified the head of the Service-Mail-Parcels branch, Philippe Dorge. “Households sent 45 letters
priorities per year in 2010, only 5 in 2021″says the press kit (link in PDF). This is starting to be expensive and to weigh on the environment, since the group uses less and less full planes, trucks and vans.
“Customers have different expectations today”insisted Philippe Dorge, whose services interviewed 22,000 customers. “Digital means, emails, SMS, etc. have been widely adopted for urgent shipments”also explains the group in its press kit.
3What will it be replaced by?
The red stamp will give way to a new hybrid formula, called e-Lettre rouge, dematerialized, for the dispatch of urgent items.
Concretely, it will be necessary to send a document, up to three sheets, before 8 p.m. on the laposte.fr site or from a post office via an automaton or with the help of an adviser. The document will then be printed by La Poste in an office close to the recipient, put in an envelope and distributed the next day. This service will cost 1.49 euros, compared to 1.43 euros for the current red stamp. An increase that the group justifies by the fact that in the new formula, “the cost of the envelope and the paper is included”.
4How to ensure the confidentiality of mail sent digitally?
Contacted by franceinfo, Philippe Dorge ensures that this imperative of “privacy” was taken into account by the group. “A machine will print the mail and make automatic enveloping with postage of the stamp in secure premises”he promises.
In cases where a counselor is needed for people who do not have the means or the knowledge to start the procedure from their home, it guarantees that “account managers in the offices” will be trained in the imperative of confidentiality, and that they “will stand at a distance” of the slip when assisting senders.
5And for people who have difficulty moving around?
“What about the elderly who cannot move and who took advantage of the postman’s passage to deliver their mail?” asked one of our Internet users in the live franceinfo.fr, after the announcement of La Poste.
Philippe Dorge explains that the group is thinking about a solution “for people who have difficulty moving around”. The idea is that they can call a postman at home who would be equipped with a tool to send the mail online for them. But this solution is still under study, and no date has been announced.
On the other hand, La Poste will offer from January 2023 a “turquoise services plus letter” distributed on D+2, with follow-up notifications and flat-rate compensation in the event of a significant delay. It will be offered from 2.95 euros, depending on the weight – a higher cost than for the delivery of red or green letters, therefore. But this letter can be picked up from the sender’s personal mailbox.
6Will all stamps be removed?
No. The green stamp, the most used for daily mailings, will still be sold, but the mail will be delivered on D+3 and no longer on D+2. On the other hand, its price will remain unchanged, at 1.16 euros for shipments up to 20 grams. This stamp will also be offered next year in digital form, with an eight-character alphanumeric code, sold online at the same price, which you just need to copy onto the envelope.
On the other hand, the Ecopli – the cheapest formula, little used, for a shipment in about four days at currently 1.14 euro – will also disappear.
7Until when will the red stamps already purchased work?
The new ranges of La Poste will be sold from January 1, 2023. But “all products purchased before this date can continue to be used without date limit in the years to come”promises Philippe Dorge.
For those who would like it, “a possibility of exchanging products from the old range with those from the new range in post offices” will be available, subject to terms and conditions to be announced later.