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 Postverk Føroya (pronounced [ˈpɔstvɛʰʂk ˈfœɹja]) is the postal service of the Faroe Islands and was founded on 1 April 1976 under the Home Rule of the Faroe Islands. On 16 December 2005, it became a public joint stock company under the name P/F Postverk Føroya (retroactive from 1 January 2005). About 290 clerks work for Postverk Føroya. There are 34 post offices, and 90 postal carriers supporting the country's 17,000 households and 48,000 inhabitants.
[edit] NameThe Faroese name Postverk Føroya uses the genitive form of the country's name Føroyar (Faroes), thus Føroya without the final r. The name means literally "Postal works of the Faroes", while the word for post or mail is postur. Many synonyms are officially allowed for the Faroese post:
[edit] Postal History[edit] Skjúts Before regular boat service was established between the islands, a special transport system was required to enable people from the different islands to exchange messages. This system was called Skjúts. It involved a Skjútsskaffari, or agent, being appointed in every village with the duty of organising a crew to transport people, letters or parcels from one village to another. The Skjúts system was actually introduced in around the mid-1860s, with the first Skjúts Act coming into force in 1865. Skjúts charges were laid down by the Løgting, the Faroese Representative Council, for 5 years at a time. There were three types of Skjúts:
The charges for Skjúts varied, with official being the cheapest and Private the most expensive. There was no charge for Skjúts prior to 1865. All healthy males of between 15 and 50 years of age were liable for Skjúts, i.e. they could not refuse without incurring a fine. It was never an easy task to transport mail from one island to another across perilous waters where there were often powerful currents. Peter S. Johannesen, who was one of the first post carriers, tells of a letter delivery from the days of Skjúts. The letter, which had to go from Tórshavn to Hvalba on Suðuroy, was marked K.T., i.e. Kongelig Tjeneste (On His Majesty's Service), and bore the endorsement Uopholdelig Befordring (For Immediate Delivery), i.e. it had to be dispatched as soon as the weather permitted.
The Skjúts system existed right up until around World War I, but was not used as much by then, as the Post Office's rates were relatively low and so represented a reasonable alternative. [edit] First Post Offices The first Faroese post office was opened in Tórshavn on the 1 March, 1870. The local sýslumaður at the time on the southern part of Streymoy, H.C. Müller, was in charge of the management of the post office for the first several years. On 1 March, 1884, the post office on Tvøroyri was opened. The third post office on the Faroes was opened in Klaksvík on 1 May, 1888. Both on Tvøroyri and in Tórshavn, the management of the post was conducted by the local sýslumaður. In the 19th century, there were only these three post offices. After the turn of the century, the pace picked up. In 1903, seven post offices were opened. During the following twenty-five years, post offices were opened in essentially all of the settlements on the Faroes. Most of them were opened in 1918, when fifteen new post offices were added. Starting in the late 1960s and continuing up to the present, a number of post offices have been closed. Postal service for the inhabitants of these settlements is now conducted by service agents. This change is part of the efficiency policy which the Faroese post office has been pursuing for the last few years. Until 1 April, 1976, the Faroese postal system was under the direction of Post Danmark (Post and Telegraph System). At that time the Faroese postal system was organised so that it had a post office (Tórshavn Post Office) managed by a postmaster. Then came the postal clerks with the so-called postal agents as managers. The postal clerks were located in the following settlements: Klaksvík, Tvøroyri, Vágur, Vestmanna and Saltangará. All the other post offices were divided into two groups. The larger ones were called "letter collection sites", and the smaller were called "postal exchange sites". Together with Tórshavn, these five post offices are still the main post offices. [edit] Founding of Postverk Føroya After the election for the Løgting in November 1974, the government decided that the postal service in the Faroes should be taken over by the Faroese Home Rule. In 1975, the Danish government and the Faroese government began negotiations on the take-over issue. The results of these negotiations led to the Faroese government taking over the postal service in the Faroes as of 1 April 1976. This new institution received the name Postverk Føroya (Post of the Faroes). A ram's horn was chosen as the institution's logo. As a natural consequence of the take-over, two new departments were established within the Faroese postal system:
Work was being done on restructuring the Faroese postal system, with the intent being for Postverk Føroya, which was a public institution, to be reorganised into a type of joint-stock enterprise. The postal system however continued to be a public company. [edit] Philatelic History An interesting period in the Faroese history of philately is the time shortly after the First World War, when the Faroese Post Office was forced to use so called provisional-stamps. On 8 December 1918 the Post Office in Tórshavn received a message from Copenhagen about the following increase of postal rates:
The increase in postal rates came into force on 1 January, 1919. Due to unreliable shipping connections, the supply of new 7-øre postage stamps failed to reach the Post Office in Tórshavn before 1 January 1919. When it became apparent that the increase in the postal rates would bring about a heavy demand for stamps amounting to 7 øre, and that the Faroese Post Offices´ stock of supplementary stamps, 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-øre, would not be sufficient to meet demand, special provisions had to be made. Thus the Post Office in Tórshavn received authorization to bisect the ordinary 4-øre stamps and use the individual halves as 2-øre stamps. When the stock of 4-øre stamps began to run low, the Post Office was given authorization to overprint the required number of 5-øre stamps and use them as 2-øre stamps. For this purpose a hand stamp was made out of a wooden block bearing the letters "2 ØRE". Part of a chair leg was used as handle, and therefor the stamp was called "The chair leg stamp". A similar situation arose in 1940/41. The German occupation of Denmark - as well as a very rough winter in Skagerak and Kattegat - prevented a steady connection between Denmark and the Faroe Islands, which again led to shortage of stamps, due to increases in the postal rates. Again the matter was settled by permitting the Post Office in Tórshavn to overprint the required number of stamps.  In 1974/75 the Danish postal system began issuing Faroese postage stamps with the caption FØROYAR. The postal system used these stamps in the Faroes for franking mail and sold them to philatelists. The first Faroese postage stamps came on the market on 30 January, 1975. From the first day they were available, the interest in Faroese postage stamps has been very extensive abroad. A number of times, postage stamps have been the second-largest source of export revenues for the Faroes. Since the founding of Postverk Føroya in 1976, the Postage Stamp Department has taken over all the work relating to the postage stamps. The department organises all production, issuance and sales of postage stamps. [edit] Issues from 1975 until today
Outside the Faroes, Postverk Føroya is most renowned for its postage stamps. All stamp editions are about items relating to the Faroes and most of them are designed by Faroese artists. Main motifs are:
All stamp editions are sold by face value and can also purchased in blocks of four or sheets. Some stamps are issued in booklets, but the same stamps occur also in sheets. Souvenir sheets (mini-sheets) soon became popular and were issued for several years, but until 2001, not more than one a year. As usual in other countries, there are first day covers (FDC) for every stamp edition with a special postmark, designed by the artist of the stamp. The so called year pack in A5 format contains all stamps and mini-sheets of a year for face value. The so called yearbook in A4 is a bit more expensive but contains extensive information about the topics of the stamps (however, these can also be found on www.stamps.fo, but without photos and other illustrations). There are two editions of the yearbook. One is in Faroese and Danish, and the other one in English and German. Annually one or two series of postcards are also issued, according to a certain stamp set. Sometimes posters are also issued with bigger drawings by the stamp artists. The oldest stamp in the current stock list (2005) is Slania's famous 25 kr ram of 1979 (FR 039), a definitive stamp still in use and a sort of symbol for all Faroese stamps. [edit] Stamp programme 2006The stamp programme of 2006, the 30th jubilee of Posterk Føroya, is planned to contain 39 stamps at the value of 265.50 DKK, including four mini-sheets.
[edit] See also[edit] External links
[edit] Sources
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