Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of State Assets, Jacek Bartmiński, pointed out that Poczta Polska must adapt to the changing market of services. The transformation plans assume maintaining branches and developing new services to ensure the profitability of the company and the protection of jobs, especially for postmen and employees serving customers. “These are the groups that we want to cover with special protection,” he pointed out.
“We have one of the largest retail chains in Poland, i.e. over 6.5 thousand post offices. We will not liquidate them. The rank of these offices may change, but where there are windows, they will remain, this is also the assumption of the restructuring plan,” he said on Wednesday in Kielce.
Development of the courier and financial services segments
The new transformation plan focuses on developing the courier segment and financial services, such as money transfers and cash transfers. Bartmiński expressed hope that these changes will allow Poczta Polska “to get back on track and become a profitable enterprise within a year.”
He noted that this plan still requires formal approval by the management board and the Supervisory Board of Poczta Polska, and finally by the Minister of State Assets. Bartmiński also expressed hope that within a month and a half the company’s management board will be fully staffed.
The Polish Post Office is struggling with problems
The MAP Undersecretary assessed that Poczta Polska is struggling with problems resulting from previous mismanagement, which led to financial difficulties. He pointed out that since 2013, renowned consulting companies have prepared development plans for Poczta Polska, which, once implemented, were to improve the company’s situation. “Millions of zlotys have been spent on this type of consulting,” he said.
“If appropriate corrections had been made 3, 4, 5 or 10 years ago, Poczta Polska would not have found itself in the situation it was in February this year, when it could not afford to pay its employees’ salaries,” he noted.
He recalled that audits are currently being conducted to explain the reasons for mismanagement in the company. As an example, he cited significant spending on advertising and sponsorship services, which will be the subject of further analysis and possible notifications to the prosecutor’s office. “The scale of mismanagement is shocking,” he assessed.
“These are expenses, for example, for Telewizja Republika, “Gazeta Polska”, subsequent editions of the Promethean Award named after President Lech Kaczyński, jubilee galas of “Gazeta Polska”, Person of the Year of “Gazeta Polska”. Such expenses add up to very high amounts. We will try to find out what benefits Poczta Polska obtained from this. We do not rule out filing notices to the prosecutor’s office regarding improper management of Poczta Polska’s property,” he informed.
He added that last year Poczta Polska did not renegotiate the contract for the supply of media and “paid a lot” for the supply of electricity and gas.
Poczta Polska is a company owned by the State Treasury, the largest postal operator on the domestic market. It employs over 66 thousand people. (PAP)
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