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Latvijas Pasts has compiled frequently asked questions and answers about changes in the operations of Latvijas Pasts during the state of emergency, urging customers to be understanding and to comply with the necessary safety standards. Regarding other matters, Latvijas Pasts asks you to contact the company’s Customer Centre on +371 27008001, +371 67008001 or info@pasts.lv.
Q. Do customers themselves have to sign for receipt of registered postal items during the state of emergency?
A. In accordance with Cabinet Order No. 655 Regarding Declaration of the Emergency Situation in the Republic of Latvia from the 9th of November to the 6th of December 2020, during this period registered and insured postal items are delivered to customers as before – in person, while the fact of delivery is registered in electronic devices by Latvijas Pasts employees instead of customers: in smartphones by postmen, in mobile terminals by Eksprespasts couriers and in the electronic signature devices of cash register systems by post office operators. This procedure eliminates the risk which could arise when customers sign in mobile smart devices during the spread of COVID-19. The described system will remain in force until the state of emergency is lifted or until new decisions are made.
Q. Do I have to wear a face mask when visiting a post office?
A. In accordance with amendments to Cabinet Regulation No. 360: Epidemiological Safety Measures for the Containment of the Spread of COVID-19 Infection of the 9th of June 2020, mouth and nose covers must be used at trading sites, including post offices; therefore, when visiting a post office, wearing a mask is mandatory, except for children under the age of 13.
Q. What other safety measures must be taken when visiting a post office?
A. Please assess the need for visiting a post office and make maximum use of remote options for receiving the services. Do not visit a post office if you have symptoms or signs of a respiratory infection. When visiting a post office, strictly observe all security measures: do not crowd and keep a distance of two metres; wait for your turn in the queue outside the post office whenever possible; as well as use personal protective equipment and practice proper hygiene.
J. Do post office employees, postmen and couriers take security measures?
A. Having regard to the necessary security measures, all post office counters providing customer service are equipped with special protective glass barriers that minimise contact between the post office employee and the visitor. The equipment of post offices and other structural units is thoroughly disinfected as before, and the employees continue to observe personal safety measures, such as using disinfectants, face shields or masks and gloves in case of direct contact with the customer. Customers at the post offices must maintain a distance of two metres, and it is recommended that as many people as there are service cash register systems stay at the post office at the same time.
Q. My postal item has arrived at the post office, but I can’t or don’t want to visit the post office right now. What are the alternatives to receiving my item?
A. In order to avoid spending more time than necessary at a post office, Latvijas Pasts encourages you to make use of the company’s mobile application, which allows you to apply for the service remotely and show up at the post office just in time for receiving your service. You can apply for services remotely in 86 largest and busiest post offices throughout Latvia; the list of these post offices is available here.
As an alternative to receiving registered items at post offices, Latvijas Pasts recommends redirecting these items to any of the Latvijas Pasts parcel lockers throughout the country, using the company’s mobile app. Latvijas Pasts provides customers with the opportunity to remotely redirect any traceable, registered or insured postal item via the mobile app to any of more than 60 parcel lockers of the company across Latvia or to any other address that suits you.
Q. Does Latvijas Pasts continue to deliver pensions, benefits or allowances at the recipient’s place of residence?
A. Latvijas Pasts provides the delivery of pensions, benefits and allowances at the recipients’ places of residence in accordance with the current procedure – no changes are planned in the provision of this service.
Q. Is it obligatory to visit a post office in order to receive a pension or benefit from the Postal Payments System (PNS) account?
A. Customers who receive their pensions and benefits from their PNS account do not necessarily have to go to the post office to receive the money. However, to get a pay-out at their place of residence through a postman, it is necessary to apply for this service at the State Social Insurance Agency (VSAA). A VSAA customer will be charged EUR 2.39 for this service.
An application to VSAA regarding a change of the payment address, deciding on further delivery of the pension at the place of residence, can be submitted electronically via the portal Latvija.lv, selecting the e-service Iesniegums iestādei (Application to authority) and expressing one’s wish in a free form. The application can also be sent by post or delivered to any VSAA customer service centre, except at 1 Talejas Street, Riga, and dropped in a specially placed box for applications. Further information on the delivery of pensions at the place of residence is available here.
An alternative is a pay-out from the PNS account at the place of residence, which is a more expensive service. A pay-out from the PNS account can be applied for at the Customer Centre of Latvijas Pasts on +371 27008001, +371 67008001 or info@pasts.lv.
Q. Is it possible to send postal items in Latvia and abroad through Latvijas Pasts?
A. International passenger traffic between many countries is suspended or restricted as a result of the measures taken worldwide to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, which has led to ongoing restrictions and delays in the exchange of postal items with some foreign countries. This is linked to the fact that most international items are delivered by passenger aircraft, which currently have insufficient capacity for postal items, so any other modes of delivery are being sought, including by land, water and rail.
Deliveries are also delayed due to congestion of items and queues at international transit airports, from where they are forwarded to other recipient countries. In addition, delivery conditions that prevent items from reaching recipients on time may be present in each individual country. For these reasons any timelines and quality standards for delivery of postal items have now been suspended at international level and are not in effect.
Latvijas Pasts currently provides deliveries to practically all countries of the world, so items to be sent abroad are accepted at post offices. It must be taken into account, however, that route planning takes longer: items that cannot be dispatched immediately are stored in the sorting centre of Latvijas Pasts and sent as soon as it becomes possible.
Q. Is it possible to send and receive Eksprespasts (Express Mail) items?
A. International items are currently delivered to all in-demand destinations. Delivery-related issues are actively addressed, looking for alternative routes and transportation options if necessary. We encourage you to follow the social network accounts of Eksprespasts and Latvijas Pasts and information on their websites where details on all current developments are posted promptly.
Due to the circumstances caused by COVID-19 and the need to use alternative routes, transportation costs to Russia have now increased substantially, so Eksprespasts items to that country are subject to an additional tariff, which will be abolished when the delivery conditions change.
Q. Is it possible to spread the COVID-19 coronavirus through postal items?
A. In accordance with the information received by Latvijas Pasts from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the likelihood of infection from postal items is low and there are no restrictions on postal items, nor has there been any international indication that such a risk exists. Therefore, like all residents of the country, it is important that postal employees do not show up sick to work, and Latvijas Pasts monitors this to the maximum, ensuring that the company’s employees do not come to work if they are sick.
At the same time, the need to disinfect each item – a letter or a printed publication – should definitely be considered by each end recipient, along with maintaining individual hygiene and washing and disinfecting the hands. The addressee’s letter-boxes should also be disinfected, just as Latvijas Pasts disinfects its parcel lockers. It should be noted that a printed publication is first printed in a printing house, sorted at a service facility outside Latvijas Pasts and only then delivered for further distribution.
Q. How can I find out the opening hours of my post office?
A. After the lifting of the emergency situation most post offices continue to operate from Monday to Friday in accordance with the opening hours set during the emergency situation, with the exception of several dozens of post offices which have resumed their operations on Saturdays and/or Sundays.
All up-to-date information on the operations of post offices is available under the section Find a Post Office of the website of Latvijas Pasts www.pasts.lv, and you can also receive this information by contacting the Customer Centre of Latvijas Pasts on +371 27008001, +371 67008001 or info@pasts.lv.
Q. How are small postal service outlets in rural areas operating?
A. Most small postal service outlets in rural areas, where postal services during the emergency situation were provided on demand at the customer’s place of residence, continue to operate in this mode also now, evaluating the demand for postal services and the feedback from customers and postal employees and also continuing to comply with epidemiological safety requirements and recommendations.
This procedure is in force only at really small postal service outlets in rural areas, which worked only for one hour per day prior to the COVID-19 crisis.
The provision of universal postal service – receipt and dispatch of letter-post items and postal parcel items – at the customer’s place of residence takes place under the same conditions as at the postal service outlets without additional commission fee.
The postman at the customer’s place of residence provides all postal services that were available on the spot at the post office: dispatch and receipt of postal items, purchase of stamps and envelopes, delivery of items, press subscriptions, receipt of money orders and pensions, payment of utility bills and other bills, payments into the Postal Settlement System account, etc.
Residents of these areas can request the receipt of postal services at their place of residence by applying over the phone. A detailed list of these postal service outlets and the phone numbers for requesting postal services is available 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 3,200 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
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv, vineta.danielsone@pasts.lv
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