'We did not fail during lockdown': French postal service

The CEO of France's postal service, La Poste, has rebuffed accusations that the state body has let the French people down during the Covid-19 lockdown, promising to re open all 7,700 post offices before the end of May.

Letter box, Nice France REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

Speaking on on French radio station RTL,Philip Wahl insisted "The Post Office has not been deficient or disappeared from sight.” 

The president of La Poste defended the service during lockdown amid some criticism that the organisation had failed in its duty as a public service because too many post offices have been closed since restrictions were implemented on 17 March.

As an example of its activity in lockdown, he said post offices distributed social security benefits to 1.5 million people during the month of April.

‘It’s simply that to achieve this feat, we had to prioritise our bigger post offices, and that created the impression in rural areas that the service had closed down,” Mahl added.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the closure or reduction of different public services outside big towns and cities was already a key grievance cited by the Gilets Jaunes or Yellow Vest protestors, whose movement emerged in November 2018.

During lockdown more post offices have been temporarily closed.

“I struggled to find a post office that was open,” said Pauline, who lives in a village in the suburbs west of Paris. ”I wanted to post some things to my auntie who's on her own on lockdown in Spain and feeling lonely. I tried 2 other post offices before I found one that was open.”

Deliveries of letters and parcels in France have also been reduced during lockdown, from 6 days a week to 3 or 4 times a week.  

Mahl promised that by the end of May all 7,700 post offices would be open again. 5,475 post offices are currently open, a number which he maintains is higher than agreed with the government during discussions on lockdown measures.