The grass is always greener...in Finland
Australia Post’s innovative moves over the last decade to strategically secure a significant hold over the domestic parcel market is the envy of postal administrations around the world – many of whom have let their domestic parcel markets be captured by private providers.
And with traditional mail volumes continuing to fall, they’re looking everywhere for alternative revenue streams.
Finland’s postal service, Posti, has come up with a completely new service to generate revenue – mowing lawns.
Weather permitting, postal delivery officers will offer the service on Tuesdays when they have the least mail to deliver, Posti said in a statement.
“We will pilot the service this summer throughout the country. The idea for the lawn mowing service came from mail delivery employees,” Posti said.
An hour a week of trimming the grass would cost customers €130 per month.
Digitalisation has driven fully state-owned but incorporated Posti to offer a range of new services, such as meal deliveries and now lawn mowing.
Due to the Nordic country’s short summer season, the mowing service will be on offer from May till the end of August in what Posti said was the start of its transformation into a home service provider.
“We thought we’d seen it all when the idea of posties becoming Australia’s most highly-paid water meter readers was floated,” said National Secretary Greg Rayner.
“Never say never, I guess.
“But I doubt you’d find our posties suggesting the same anytime soon.”
Just over a month ago, Posti said it was axing nearly 700 of its 22,000 or so jobs.
Last year, the number of letters and other dispatches delivered by Posti in sparsely-inhabited Finland declined by 8%, causing revenues to fall by over 11%.
