After the inauguration of the office in Mende, the CEO of La Poste and elected officials want to develop services in Lozère

Philippe Wahl a coupé le ruban d’inauguration dans le bureau de poste de Mende. Midi Libre – Lucas Manouvrier

Philippe Wahl, the president and CEO of La Poste, inaugurated the Mende post office this Friday, April 12, 2024. His visit to Lozère allowed him to meet the unions in the morning and the department's elected officials at the start. afternoon.

Philippe Wahl, Chairman and CEO (CEO) of La Poste visited Lozère, this Friday, April 12, 2024, to inaugurate the new premises located on Boulevard du Soubeyran, fine. Reopened since December 11, the post office had been closed for four months during major renovation work. Nearly 500,000 euros; were invested by La Poste in this ambitious project. But "the result is there"and it was largely confirmed during the speeches of the various Lozère political figures present.

"Modernizing an old building was not an easy mission but it was worth it", se rejoices Philippe Wahl. The 400 m2 of the building, on the ground, are operated by La Poste, but the different floors are left abandoned. The mayor of the city, Laurent Suau, has already wanted to provide avenues for reflection on the possibility of creating housing. "We need it in Lozère", he reminds us.

Attendance halved

If this new post office, ultra-functional and modern, and the investment it represented are positive signs regarding the establishment of La Poste in Lozère, there are still doubts. Territorial coverage, closures of post offices or replacement by agencies… Almost everywhere, local elected officials are concerned about the sustainability of local public services offered to residents.

According to the CEO, everything is a question of evolution and attendance. "For 10 years, in Lozère as elsewhere in France, attendance at post offices has been more than halved. It is this observation which is at the origin of these changes. You will notice that we never leave a place. There always remains a point of contact, with an agency or a business. If we manage to stabilize attendance, then we will be able to stabilize the number of post offices."

More than attendance as such, it is also a whole distribution service which operates slowly over the years. "Postmen delivered 18 billion letters in 2008 ; today, it’s six billion", details Philippe Wahl. And if the sending of parcels is on an ascending curve, it does not compensate for the reduction in postal mail.

Develop home services

Among the solutions imagined to compensate for this drop in performance, pooling with local authorities is mentioned, but also the creation of new missions. Lozère is already witnessing these developments with the signing of the partnership for meal delivery, between La Poste and the Department. Becoming, on this occasion, the first territory concerned by such a partnership.

The company focuses particularly on home service, in a context where "the population is aging and more and more people are in fragile situation", estimates Philippe Wahl. Some services are already in place, for example home visits by the postman to seniors.

The elected officials of the department and the unions meet the CEO

À on the occasion of Philippe Wahl's arrival in the department, the unions met with the CEO in the morning; the elected officials in the afternoon. During the inauguration late in the morning, this Friday, April 12, around twenty demonstrators met in front of the post office to demand the working conditions of factors, an increase in wages and the deterioration of postal services in Lozère.

The exchanges made it possible to envisage the future, and in particular the deployment of new services in the department, to preserve jobs and irrigate all the territory with proximity to water. increased availability of these services to citizens. If the visions were sometimes opposed, the discussions still made it possible to raise avenues for reflection to improve working conditions and rethink the ’ evolution of the postman profession.

"Remain the leading business employer in Lozère"

"Today, it’s no longer the social bond that counts, it’s the commercial line, regrets Guillaume Martin, departmental secretary of the CGT and professional postman. It’s not a problem to change our missions but we must give ourselves the means to do so. Working conditions are deteriorating and many colleagues are no longer there." The CEO is not giving up, he wants "preserve the salaried jobs of Lozériens to enable them to build their future here." To do this, new avenues of activity must be initiated, to preserve jobs. "We are looking to stay in Lozère. We are the leading business employer in this department and we want to remain so. But we can no longer count on the letter to stay that way. We must develop new forms of presence."

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