Austrian Post has opened its 1,000th Post Partner outlet and plans to open 500 more partneragencies in future.
The 1,000 postal agency is located in a supermarket in the town of Lilienfeld, Lower Austria,the company announced. The symbolic figure proves the success of the common project with theChamber of Commerce in Austria, it said.
At the beginning of the year, there were 418 Post Partner agencies in Austria and nearly 600more have been opened in the last ten months. The network is thus even denser than prescribed bythe law. The new postal law stipulates 1,650 agencies while Austrian Post already counts over 1,866outlets.
Herbert Götz, board member at Austrian Post, commented: “This number is not the end yet. We aimto reach 2,000 partner outlets across the whole federal territory and are confident that we willachieve it, also through further partners.”
Walter Binder, the jubilee partner who is the owner of the supermarket, explained hisdecision to apply for the partnership with Austrian Post. “For me, it’s important to offer addedvalue to customers. And this is achievable through the partnership with the Post which is onereason more why the citizens of Lilienfeld are coming to my supermarket. And this is my chance, ofcourse, to convince them of my remaining products.”
Dr. Christoph Leitl, President of the Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the success of thepartnerships. “There are now companies which have become Post Partners at several locations. Thisis one of the best ways of proving that the model is excellent. Otherwise, they wouldn’t repeatedlydo it.”
In February this year, Austrian Post unveiled plans for more partner outlets after a law forcedit to extend its retail network. Under the postal law approved last November, the number of postalservice outlets in Austria has been fixed at 1,650, which is 150 more than in the past. Thecompany’s ‘Post.Partner Concept 2010’ aims to improve customer service focusing on demands forgreater accessibility and improved opening hours of postal service points, particularly in ruralareas.
