History of the Post Office

Post is one of the important communication tools in every modern society. Even in the age of information technologies post remains one of the most accessible ways of communication for millions of people.

The history of communication began in the Stone Age. At that time, ancient people exchanged information by way of fire smoke and drum signals. Later people started sending couriers and heralds to inform others about the most important issues.

Great ancient countries like Assyria, Egypt, Persia, Rome and others had a well-organized post system. Day and night couriers went to and fro. They changed horses or passed information to other courier on the special stations. 2500 years ago the relay-system of communication was widely used. It was the Latin "mansio pozita…" (station in the point…) where the word “post” came from.

Federal Post Network in Russia

In Russia there is the Russian Federal Post Network which is responsible for all postage on the territory of Russia. It has branches in every settlement including the smallest towns.

The Russian Post Network has about 40,000 post divisions and employs about 300,000 people countrywide. It delivers about 1 billion letters, 13 billion parcels and 44 million money orders a year. The Russian Federal Post Network is the largest post network, although it is not the fastest way of communication. If you send an ordinary letter via the federal post, you may expect to be substantially delayed or even lost. If you send a letter abroad, it may take about a month to deliver. Therefore, it is not a reliable way of sending letters.

On the other hand, the federal post is the cheapest one. If you want to send a letter from one Russian town to another, it may cost you about 5 to 10 rubles (less than half dollar). You can buy ordinary envelopes at any post office, in the shops offering office goods or in small kiosks on the streets selling newspapers and magazines.
If you want guarantees your letter will be delivered to the receiver, you may choose to send a special registered letter. In this case you will receive a special note saying that your letter has been received. It will cost you an additional half dollar. The exact cost depends on the destination. To send a registered letter, you should fill in a special blank in the post office and give it to the clerk.

You may also choose to buy airmail or railway mail envelopes. The former are more expensive, but the letter will be delivered quicker. If you send an ordinary letter from Vladivostok (the city located in the Far East of Russia) to Moscow, the capital, and choose railway delivery, you may expect your letter to be delivered in more than two weeks after you send it. The reason is the distance between the two cities is very great and the post is slow in processing letters.

If you send a letter via the federal post, you may also choose an “insured letter” option. In this case you will be required to estimate the value of your letter and pay additional fees to insure the delivery.
You may use the federal post to send a parcel as well. The fee depends on the value and weight of the parcel. Here you may choose several options with different price and safety levels as well. If you send a parcel of USD 100 value weighting 500 gr. you will have to pay about USD 20 to deliver it from Moscow to Great Britain. Check local post offices for more information on the fees.
In general, the State Federal Post Network is the most widely spread and cheap post service. However, quite often it is unreliable. Advantages include low prices and accessibility while the disadvantage is a slow and poor service.

Post Europe Association

The Post Europe Association was created in 1993 following the initiative of 26 public postal operators in 26 European countries. The aim was to unite the postal operators of the European states to coordinate their activities, to develop a universal post service and improve quality. The Association also represents the main public postal operators at the international market and is responsible for developing relations with the countries of Central and East Europe. The headquarters of the Post Europe is located in Brussels, Belgium. In 1994 Russia entered the Association and since that time it takes part in the main activities of the organization. Presently, the Association has 42 member states including Belgium, Russia, Spain, Great Britain, Turkey, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands and others. Hopefully, involvement in the activities of this organization will help to further improve the quality of service and reliability of the Russian federal post service.

For more information see www.posteurop.org.

International Post Companies in Russia

Fortunately, there are several others post service companies in Russia today. They are mostly represented by the branches of international companies. The most respected and well-known ones (mostly in business sphere, as ordinary people usually prefer to use slower, but cheaper federal post service) are DHL and UPS. Note that these companies deliver not only letters, but parcels and freights as well.

The main advantages of these companies include quick service and guarantees of delivery in time while the main disadvantage is the higher price. For example, delivery of the same parcel of USD 100 value weighting 500 gr. will cost you USD 63 if you send it with DHL. It is twice as much as the same parcel delivered with the federal post, but it will be delivered in about two days!

DHL and UPS companies are perhaps the main international companies providing post service in Russia, at least the bigger ones. They have their offices in most cities and towns. They have gained the specific clientele in Russia which involves large businesses with contacts abroad. Smaller businesses and citizens do not use this service often. They might use it on some special and urgent occasions. The reason is the service is quite expensive for Russia. USD 63 accounts for about a quarter of an average monthly wages in bigger cities like Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Samara and others (in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg the average wage is higher). By now DHL and UPS have won their market share and are known for their quality and fast service.

The exact delivery fees can be calculated on the web sites of DHL and UPS companies

http://www.ups.com/

http://www.dhl.ru or www.dhl.com for English version.

Evgeniya Stroganova