bpost wants to connect, today more than ever

Jean-Paul Van Avermaet, CEO bpost Group:

“The coronavirus crisis has made it abundantly clear that bpost Group's close proximity to citizens and customers is very important.
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​From the newspaper delivered every morning and the payment of pensions to the e-commerce services that keep online stores running and the card or letter delivered to someone who is isolated: every task that bpost carries out creates solidarity and breaks the isolation of the most vulnerable in society.

The health of our employees and our customers have always been our number one priority and so it will remain.

Solidarity flows through the veins of bpost Group and its employees. Yesterday, today and tomorrow, every day 34,000 employees around the world are ready to provide an exceptional service to citizens. I am very proud to be part of this bpost family today.
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​We will get through this together because #wearebpost.”

What are we doing for our employees?

The wellbeing of our employees is clearly our number-one priority. Because they are key to safeguarding our essential service to citizens and customers. In recent months we have taken a great many steps to protect their health and safety.

Hand sanitizers and special procedures to ensure social distancing have now become standard. The guidelines for signatures and ID checks have been adapted and parcels are set down on the doorstep when ringing doorbells.

The procedures at our post offices have also been adapted. Furthermore, marks on the floor ensure waiting lines are safe and Plexiglas partitions have been installed at counters.

The number of people in each workspace at our sorting centres has been limited to ensure the social distancing rules can be followed. And our drivers have been issued with gloves.

Appropriate safety measures have been taken at our central services to ensure that employees are able to return to the office should they wish. Working from home remains an option, of course.

What are we doing for the community?

bpost Group has an important social role, today more than ever.

During the difficult lockdown period, bpost launched a campaign to bring people closer together. Everyone was able to use the Mobile Postcard app to send 10 free postcards to their loved ones. In this campaign bpost’s aim was to help people stay in touch despite the social distancing measures. The successful campaign ran for two weeks and the result was impressive. No fewer than 1.5 million postcards were sent. So more than 1.5 million people have enjoyed a moment of pleasure in these otherwise difficult times.

The citizens of Belgium are also hugely grateful to bpost employees for the essential role they fulfil in today’s society. Letters and drawings have appeared on letterboxes and in windows across the country to show support for postal staff.

Furthermore, bpost’s subsidiary Radial is also offering as much help as possible to local communities in the United States.

What are we doing for our consumers?

During the coronavirus crisis we are doing everything in our power to ensure we are there for our customers and citizens.

We have continued to deliver letters and parcels, to provide our e-commerce logistics services, and our post offices remained open. But that’s not all, because we have also expanded our operating capacity to ensure we are able to meet the expectations of our customers going forward, among other things by doubling the number of parcels we can handle. In doing so, we helped our society continue to function and the Belgian economy to tick over.

In this exceptional peak period we were also able to help many local retailers take their first steps in e-commerce. A study shows that we provided assistance to four out of every five of them.

This blog contains full information about our adapted service.