“The red stamp is no more, and you intend to pass it off like a letter in the post office. » The communist senator from Dordogne, Marie-Claude Varaillas, has an easy metaphor. By this formula, the elected, during a session of questions to the government, on January 11, criticized the reorganization of the mail activity decided by La Poste.
The most emblematic measure is actually to eliminate postage at 1.43 euros to deliver a letter the day after it is sent. After fifty-four years of good and loyal service, the red stamp will be replaced by an “ethical, inclusive and frugal digital”. Welcome to the next world.
The measure aims to show common sense with regard to the change in French correspondence practices. Over the past decade, the number of priority letters sent by La Poste has been divided by fifteen to fall to 275 million. On average, each Frenchman can count on the fingers of his hand the red stamps used over a year. This type of postage only represented barely 5% of the letters exchanged at the end of 2022, but still required the mobilization of 300 trucks plus three planes to serve the south of France.
The economic logic is indisputable on paper. With the extension of delays on slow mail and the reorganization of distribution, the management of the public company is aiming for savings of 120 million euros per year. Not insignificant when we know that the annual deficit of the universal postal service amounts to 1 billion and that the taxpayer is requested to the tune of 520 million in the form of a subsidy taken from the State budget. Finally, the ultimate argument these days, the changeover operated by La Poste will reduce CO₂ emissions related to mail delivery by a quarter.
Privacy issues
The debate could end there. Indeed, how can we justify maintaining a costly, polluting and obsolete service without looking like a nostalgic reactionary to letter exchanges? However, it would be wrong to take lightly the objections that have not failed to arise.
Some are more related to the way this small revolution is carried out. La Poste has a good game of hammering that other, slower postage methods are maintained. Long live green (now D+3) or turquoise (D+2). But the alternative solution of the red stamp for priority routing at D + 1, the new “red e-letter”, has reason to be skeptical. A few years ago, the company launched an advertising campaign with the slogan “The various La Poste services make your life easier and make you want to dance!” “There, we would rather want to laugh or cry, it depends.
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