Consumers and businesses are more demanding than ever before and are demanding tailor-made services. This business environment is already driving change within the postal sector. The status quo is not an option therefore. The Commission recognises that postal services have a vital role to play in linking people and businesses together. Postmen and women are important figures in their communities, particularly in rural areas.
Postal services are crucial to social cohesion.
This is precisely why there are strict safeguards in the existing Directive to ensure universal service is maintained in accordance with strict and detailed definitions. Sweden has had an open postal market since 1994, but still manages to guarantee universal service even to its remotest areas where there is a low population density. Overall in the EU, postal services are estimated to employ approximately 1.7 million people directly, or whom 1.3 million are employed by the universal service postal operators. Sustainable jobs in the postal sector can be best assured in a climate where competition stimulates the creation of attractively priced products and services, which increase demand for mail services. Moreover, the indirect employment effects on industrial and commercial users of postal services should also be taken into account.