The postal services in Japan were privatised on the April 1. All the post offices changed their logos, took down the cute seasonal decorations and the postal workers look slightly more grumpy. Other than that, not too much seems to have changed.
But now that mail delivery is a commercial venture, the parcel services are keen to get a piece of the action. Kuroneko Mail will take your 50 gram letter for 80 yen. It costs 90 yen at Japan Post. Sagawa, another parcel delivery company, also runs mail services.
But Japan Post is fighting back. Starting later this month, they’re planning a package delivery service, EXPACK 500. It will cost only 500 yen within the central business areas of Tokyo.
Posted by kuri at April 08, 2003 06:22 PMI think AM PM are about to launch a competitive Tokyo based package service as well - I think it was 600 yen.
Posted by: Tracey on April 8, 2003 07:49 PMI think it is a shame that the postal service has been privatized. There are some things that should always remain public: postal services, law enforcement (including the judiciary, prison systems, etc.), schools, and quite a few other things as well.
It’s great that it might cost a few yen less to mail a package from Point A to Point B, but free market competition is not the answer to every problem. I really don’t think it should have been applied in this case.
Posted by: S. Patrick Eaton on April 10, 2003 09:38 AM