Itella to begin opening letters and delivering them via email

“In the initial stage of the experiment even love letters will be opened.“

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Itella, the former Finland Post (the name changed in 2007), will begin an entirely new postal service experiment, which involves opening the customers’ letters. The letters will then be scanned and emailed to the receiver.
      The experiment will begin next week in the southern city of Porvoo. It is an extension of the already existing NetPosti service, which will consequently now also include first and second class letters written on paper.
      Simultaneously, the number of traditional mail deliveries will be reduced to only twice a week. However, mail will be made available for the customers to pick up from a box at their local shop.
      The experiment will begin at Porvoo’s Anttila village on April 12th and last until the end of the year.
     
According to Itella Business Development Director Tommi Tikka, 124 households and 20 businesses in the area have volunteered to take part in the trial run.
      The lawfulness of the experiment has been verified with the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) and the Data Protection Ombudsman.
      “The experiment is the first one of its kind in Finland and, as far as we know, the first such anywhere in the world. We are testing the so-called Living Lab model, which aims to widen the scope of postal services. In the model the customers are essentially included in the development of the service.”
      “We have a unit that specialises in digitising paper documents and it has its own premises, where the scanning takes place. The mail delivery staff does not take part in this side of our services.”
     
According to Tikka, the data security issue involved in digitising people’s letters has been looked into by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
      “The people who do the scanning are bound to secrecy. They do not read people’s letters”, Tikka explains.
      “Sending money in letters is unlawful. Any possible photographs will not be studied closely. At least in the initial stage of the experiment even love letters will be opened.“
     
“We hope to get a lot of feedback to develop the service further. If certain type of deliveries, for example postcards, cannot be digitised, say, for copyright reasons, then we will alter the system”, says Tikka.
      Afterwards the physical letters will be forwarded to the receiver’s address through the normal mail delivery service.
     
     
Note: This story - with its overtones of "post office opening your mail" - would lend itself easily to an April Fool's Day prank, but it should be noted that it was first released on March 30th, and seems to be perfectly legitimate and a means of reducing the physical deliveries of mail - something that the postal services would like to see happening in any case as increasing numbers of people use electronic invoicing for regular payments such as electricity bills.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Over-75s will get their mail delivered to front door after all (29.1.2010)

Links:
  NetPosti

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