La Poste continues to bet on dematerialization to streamline its services. After the digital stamp, it is the turn of priority letters to adopt a digital format.
From 1er January 2023, it will be necessary to rely on “red e-letters” to send urgent letters on D+1.
The red e-letter can be sent from the laposte.fr site until 8 p.m., then it will be printed by La Poste near the recipient to avoid transport costs. Mail is delivered the next day in an envelope, with a printed red stamp design.
“The red letter as it exists today no longer corresponds to usage and, by requiring rapid transport sometimes including a plane trip, its energy balance is very heavy” justifies the group in a press release.
6 cents more than the current priority letter
The decline of the “red letter” has been observed for ten years: households sent an average of 5 priority letters in 2021, compared to 45 in 2010, according to the group. On the other hand, the green letter remains popular with customers for “most everyday uses” such as sending administrative documents and small goods.
To make this service more accessible, customers will be able to send these e-letters from a post office, on a machine or with the help of an adviser.
The red e-letter will be marketed from 1.49 euros, against 1.43 euros for the priority letter today (the cost of the paper and the envelope being included).
As a reminder, La Poste wants to invest 800 million euros over the next three years in its digital transformation and the modernization of its spaces. To facilitate online procedures, the group also intends to deploy new features such as the scan function to avoid manually entering the tracking number for letters and registered mail. La Poste is also launching a tool for measuring objects and surfaces in augmented reality, making it possible to find the right packaging for parcels.