Krūmiņš said that of around 2,000 postal service employees, 300 to 320 are currently out of work due to illness, including Covid-19. He said that if the shortages were distributed evenly throughout Latvia it would be easier, but it is concentrated in specific locations, especially Rauna, Straupe, Valmiera. In Rauna and Straupe, all postal workers are ill.
Other department employees are involved to maintain the service. “It is necessary to look for different solutions, both the administration staff and colleagues from other departments or neighboring postal departments are driving to ensure that the delivery of the consignments takes place,” Krūmiņš said. “Primarily, we focus on ensuring that pensions are delivered to seniors,” he added.
He also said that Covid-19 had an indirect impact on the price increases for sending letters in January. “During the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of correspondence with signed letters has decreased significantly since we are starting to make more use of different e-solutions, e-signature. Consequently, if the volume of the letters is significantly smaller, the price goes up,” Krūmiņš explained. At the same time, parcel shipping volume has increased and the prices of larger shipments have gone down.
Krūmiņš recommended that residents use the tariff calculator on the Latvijas Pasts website to calculate the value of their shipment.
