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All 650 Bpost offices will remain open. They take on a social role. They help people with limited digital skills. Bpost must also install ATMs in municipalities where there are no longer any ATMs. In exchange, the government pays the company an extra 16 million euros.
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The federal government and the listed public company Bpost
have concluded a new management agreement for the period 2022-2026. It states that Bpost will keep all its post offices open. However, a large part of the 650 offices is not profitable. ‘If Bpost looked at its branch network purely from an economic point of view, it would probably close half of the branches. But the offices are valuable because they fulfill a social function’, says Minister of Public Enterprises Petra De Sutter (Green).
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The essence
- The government and Bpost conclude a new management agreement for the period 2022-2026.
- All post offices remain open, including the loss-making ones.
- The government wants them to play an even greater social role, so that they remain useful.
- Post offices will soon be helping people to communicate digitally with the government. ATMs also appear in municipalities where there are no banks’ vending machines.
- In exchange, Bpost’s government grant will increase from 110 to 125 million euros.
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According to the minister, they will do that even more in the future. For example, the postal company will soon be obliged to install an ATM in municipalities where there are no longer any machines of traditional banks. That’s how it is at the moment in 14 Belgian municipalities, and that number threatens to rise as almost all banks close offices. Bpost currently has 524 ATMs. That number should not fall below 350.
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If Bpost looked at its branch network purely from an economic point of view, it would probably close half of it. But those offices are valuable.
Petra De Sutter
Minister of Public Enterprises
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‘We want everyone to be able to withdraw money close to home, even in rural areas,’ says De Sutter. ‘Thanks to its offices, Bpost is the ideal partner for this. Although Bpost is also allowed to place the machines outside its offices.’
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She acknowledges that despite the measures, not every citizen will have an ATM around the corner. ‘In large municipalities with many hamlets and in amalgamated municipalities, this is not always feasible. Municipalities can ask Bpost to install additional machines, but at the expense of the municipality.’
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Help with Tax-on-Web
In addition, the post offices will soon also help people with little or no digital knowledge. ‘According to the King Baudouin Foundation, 40% of Belgians have little digital literacy, while more and more government communication takes place via the internet. That is why we are converting 65 post offices into digital hubs in a 2.5-year test phase. For example, people can get help logging into Tax-on-Web (the online tax platform, ed.), hun eBox (mailbox met overheidsberichten, red.) look into it, request a subscription for public transport or perform banking transactions via the Bpost bank.’ It is therefore not the intention that people report to the post office to order a plane ticket or to have the settings of their mobile phone adjusted.
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In the post offices people can get help to log in to Tax-on-Web, they can do banking transactions or subscribe to public transport.
Petra De Sutter
Minister of Public Enterprises
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However, Bpost is free to collaborate with commercial companies to make the offices even more of a digital hub. ‘Bpost, for example, is considering collaborating with banks so that people can carry out banking transactions in the branches. It is also conceivable that you can buy train tickets in the post offices. Local authorities and PCSWs are also free to offer digital services in post offices’, says De Sutter.
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Ask how you are
In addition, the postmen are also given a more social role. ‘Postmen in some municipalities are already ringing the doorbell of socially weaker people to see how they are doing, and the intention is to do this in even more municipalities. If something is wrong, the postmen can report this to the municipality or the OCMW, so that they can take action.’
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Bpost will keep a number of existing social tasks. ‘Postmen, for example, come to their homes to hand over their pension cash to retirees. People can also buy stamps and give letters when the postman makes his rounds.’
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In addition, the government is also demanding that post offices become more accessible for people with disabilities. Climate requirements are also becoming stricter. Bpost must reduce CO . by 40 to 50 percent by 20302 emissions compared to 2017. Previously, the bar was set at 20 percent.
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The measures threaten to burden the company with additional costs. But the new measures are also accompanied by additional financing. The company receives 16 million extra annually from the government for tasks that it would not perform as a purely commercial company.
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Bpost is already receiving subsidies to carry out tasks imposed by the government, such as sending fines and distributing election printed matter. This year, Bpost will receive 110 million euros for this.
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With the new management agreement, the federal government emphasizes Bpost’s social role. Entering into a management agreement is an ideological exercise. On the one hand, Bpost is a listed company that has to pursue profit growth, on the other hand it is a public company with a social function. Parties such as Groen, Vooruit and CD&V want to emphasize the latter. Certainly CD&V chairman Joachim Coens insists on government services close to the people.
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