French MPs back La Poste cuts: fewer post offices, fewer mailboxes and slower mail
A parliamentary report also recommends changing how services operate in rural areas
Annual letter volumes in France have fallen from 17 billion in 2005 to five billion in 2025
Alexander Fedosov/Shutterstock.
France is considering reshaping its postal service La Poste as a parliamentary report indicates that the traditional letter system is becoming financially unsustainable.
The report makes 39 recommendations in an attempt to stabilise La Poste’s public service including slower delivery times, fewer yellow collection mailboxes, and the restructuring of its presence in rural areas.
Billions of letters fewer
The reason behind this restriction is the decline in traditional mail. Annual letter volumes in France have fallen from 17 billion letters in 2005 to five billion in 2025, a reduction of more than two-thirds.
Despite the company raising prices in line with regulatory limits set by Arcep (France’s regulator for telecoms and postal services) , these increases have not compensated for the loss in volume.
However, the parliamentary report states that “these increases have only served to limit the growth of the service's deficit, as the decrease in mail volume inevitably leads to a year-on-year reduction in La Poste's revenue.”
At the same time, the universal postal service obliges La Poste to maintain a nationwide network for collection, sorting and delivery, operating six days a week.
This system remains costly, with figures showing the service running an annual deficit of around €643 million (before state compensation).
What might be changing
To address this, the report includes 39 recommendations, among the most important being:
Extending standard letter delivery time from three to four days from 2028
Removing of yellow mailboxes receiving fewer than five letters per week
Reducing or reorganising post office networks in low-traffic areas
Adjusting tariffs more closely to real delivery costs, especially for urgent mail
In rural areas, however, the proposals have raised concern, as many residents still rely on physical mail services, particularly older people and those with limited access to digital alternatives.
