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16.04.2019
One of the major reasons that makes it difficult for postmen to fulfil their obligations in delivery of items is freely roaming and unattended dogs, as well as damaged or even non-existent letter-boxes. 19 postmen suffered from aggressive domestic animals in 2018, whereas letter-boxes that were damaged or otherwise unsuitable for dropping postal items safely were recorded at more than 77,000 addresses where both natural persons and legal entities were the recipients of items. In order to ensure the quality delivery of postal items, Latvijas Pasts repeatedly calls on residents to keep an eye on their watch-dogs and arrange their letter-boxes properly.
In accordance with Cabinet of Ministers Regulations Regarding the Place of Provision of Postal Services, the Postal Network Access Point, the Letter-box Station and Letter-box Installation, the Placement and Designing of Letter-boxes, as well as the Arrangement of Stations of Processing of Cross-border Postal Items, letter-boxes must be located in a safe place which is freely accessible to the postman. In the springtime, when the days are getting longer and warmer, postal workers are also more likely to be confronted with situations when a four-legged pet is left outdoors unattended for an extended period of time, preventing access to letter-boxes and dropping items in them. If the pet is aggressive, the health of postmen can be seriously compromised, but those who live at that address do not receive items addressed to them. 19 dog attacks on postmen of Latvijas Pasts were registered in 2019, and in the first three months of 2019 two attacks were recorded.
Dog owners tend to believe that their dog is friendly and in no way will harm the postman, but in reality the dog can become very aggressive as soon as a stranger wants to enter its territory. The most frequent mistakes made by dog owners include putting the animals on a long chain, which allows them to reach the postman who rides a bicycle, leaving the dog in the yard with a fence which is so low that the dog can easily jump over it or positioning the letter-box in such a place that the dog gets in the way and prevents the postman from dropping the items in the letter-box. Letter-boxes are often attached to the inside of the fence while there is an angry dog in the yard.
The delivery of postal items is also seriously threatened by damaged letter-boxes, as well as the fact that in many places in Latvia the recipients of correspondence have not put up letter-boxes at all. This is evidenced by the statistics of the register of addresses of Latvijas Pasts: out of 1.03 million addresses more than 77,000 cannot provide for secure delivery of items or cannot ensure delivery of items at all due to the lack of a letter-box, its technical damage, inadequate size, inappropriate location or other similar reasons.
Inadequate letter-boxes can be found in almost every postman’s service area, and this problem is prevalent mainly in cities: both in apartment blocks and detached houses. However, also customers living in rural areas have not always taken care of providing an appropriate letter-box for receiving the items addressed to them, and often problematic or non-existent letter-boxes are found in horticultural co-operative societies, as well as on the buildings of legal entities and even public institutions.
The largest number of non-compliant and absent letter-boxes is recorded in Riga region: Riga, Babīte, Inčukalns and Ragana. Similarly, this problem is regularly detected elsewhere in Latvia, most often in Aizpute, Bārta, Kuldīga, Liepāja, Saldus, Talsi, Tukums and Ventspils in Kurzeme region; Ludza, Rēzekne and Rudzāti in Latgale region; Aloja, Lubāna and Rauna in Vidzeme region; and Aizkraukle, Bauska, Dobele, Jelgava, Jēkabpils and Ogre in Zemgale region, as well as in other places in Latvia.
Latvijas Pasts would like to remind you that the company has the right not to deliver items to the addresses where postmen are menaced by dangerous dogs and their owners ignore requests to restrict dog freedom during the delivery of postal items. The postal service provider also has the right not to deliver postal items, but to issue them on request at the post office to the addressees who have not placed and arranged their letter-boxes in accordance with the requirements of the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations.
In order to ensure the successful and safe delivery of postal items, Latvijas Pasts calls on residents to keep an eye on their watch-dogs and pay attention to the condition of the letter-boxes belonging to them, making sure that they are not damaged and are lockable, that they clearly indicate the address, apartment number or home name, surname or legal entity name and that the letter-box is located in an accessible place and has an appropriate size.
The photos taken by Latvijas Pasts postmen showing the examples of letter-boxes which are damaged and which are not positioned according to the regulations can be viewed here.
About SJSC Latvijas Pasts
Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with around 4,000 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.
Additional information:
Vineta Danielsone | Senior Public Relations Project Manager
Phone: +371 67608504
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv | vineta.danielsone@pasts.lv
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