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Itella Oyj
Type	Public Limited Company
Founded	1638
Headquarters	Helsinki, Finland
Industry	postal service, logistics, information logistics
Net income	EUR 1,952.9 million
Owner(s)	Finnish Government
Employees	31,672 (31.12.2008)
Website	[2]

Itella (formerly Suomen Posti) is a national mail enterprise owned by the Finnish state. This limited company operates in 13 countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden). It operates through three smaller business groups: Itella Mail Communication, Itella Information, and Itella Logistics. In addition, the company provides postal services in Finland.

Itella is subject to a universal service obligation covering, among other areas, the delivery of letters and parcels on weekdays in every Finnish municipality. In addition to traditional postal services, the company concentrates on service logistics and digital signal transmission.

Itella has its headquarters in northern Pasila, Helsinki. The group’s CEO is Jukka Alho, and the chairman of the Board of Directors is Eero Kasanen.

[edit] Operations

An Itella Logistics van.

Itella Mail Communication handles the delivery of letters, direct mail, and newspapers and magazines in Finland. Itella Information provides solutions for organisations’ invoicing, payroll, customer communication, and automation of data collection and archival management processes. Itella Logistics is a service logistics provider with offerings ranging from transport, forwarding, and contract logistics to intelligent IT-based logistics solutions.

[edit] Historical background

On 6 September 1638, Governor-General Per Brahe established postal services in Finland, part of the Kingdom of Sweden at the time.

In 1811, a central postal administration was established within the postal services of autonomous Finland.

In 1845, postal service for parcels began.

In 1856, stamps were introduced. Finland's began issuing its own national stamps in autumn 1917.

In 1858, home delivery of letters and newspapers began.

Posti was one of the first institutions to hire women as employees, doing so since the 1860s.

In 1927, the Telegraph was merged with the Finnish Post (Posti).

In 1981, Post and Telegraph was renamed Post and Telecommunications.

In 1990, Posti-Tele became a state-owned enterprise no longer dependent on the state budget.

In 1994, Post and Telecommunications became Suomen PT Oy, with the subsidiaries Finland Post Corporation, providing postal services, and Telecom Finland Oy (later Sonera Oy), engaged in telecommunications.

In 1998, Suomen PT Group was demerged. Finland Post Corporation and Sonera Oy became state-owned enterprises.

In 2001, Finland Post became a public company (as Finland Post Corporation).

Since 1 June 2007, the company name has been Itella Corporation. The group's more diversified and internationalised business operations were the reason for the change of name.

In Russia Itella acquires the logistics company NLC (National Logistic Company) and Connexions company, specialising in direct marketing services. In Poland Itella acquires BusinessPoint S.A., specialising in printing and document management.

[edit] Postal services

A van branded Posti Itella.

Itella serves its Finnish customers under the brand Posti. The sales network consists of 1,200 outlets, of which 200 are Posti's own offices and 1,000 are run by local entrepreneurs.

Itella Oyj is solely responsible for providing postal services. In its current form, the Act on Postal Services entered into force at the beginning of 2002. By virtue of this act, postal services must be provided on a permanent basis and for reasonable prices to all users, throughout the country. In each municipality there must be at least one outlet providing postal services.

The responsibility for the general steering and development of postal services belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Also the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, acting under this ministry, participates in the development of postal services. Among its tasks are monitoring to ensure that the Act on Postal Services and its regulations and provisions are complied with, as well as handling customer feedback.

As of yet, the company has no direct competitors in basic mail delivery. There are some companies that deliver magazines in populated areas, but no other universal postal services as defined by the Mail Service Act 313/2001. Potential rivals with some competition in package delivery are Rautakirja, which has a network of kiosks around the country, and Matkahuolto, with a bus network.

[edit] References

^ [1]

[edit] See also

List of postal codes in Finland

[edit] External links

Itella Corporation - The official site.
Itella Corporation - The official site in English.
Official site of Posti

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