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POSTEN

Swedish post rescinds fee for late postcard

Posten, the Swedish postal service, has announced that a man in eastern Sweden who has finally received a postcard originally posted more than 16 years ago will not have to pay a 16 kronor ($2.50) fee that it had previously demanded after all.

On November 25, 1994 a postcard was mailed to Einar Persson in Ljusdal, 60 kilometres east of Hudiksvall, from Sundsvall. More than 16 years later, Persson has received a copy of the postcard with a demand that he fork out 16 kronor for the actual item from Posten.

At the time, postage was only 2.80 kronor and has since risen to 5.50 kronor for a postcard within Sweden.

“It was the correct postage when the item was posted,” Persson told newspaper Ljusdals-Posten online on Wednesday while questioning Posten’s demand for a fee.

The late delivery also means that Persson cannot reply to the sender, who died in 1995.

According to Posten, Persson appears to have erroneously been asked to pay up because the individual who assigned the fee likely did not notice the date the item was originally sent.

“We always request additional fees when there is not enough on the card. We shouldn’t have done that. We don’t read the letters. The man did not see that the card was posted 16 years ago. The man who received the postcard should not have had to pay,” Posten press officer Per Ljungberg told The Local on Wednesday.

He added that it is unclear why the postcard has only surfaced now.

“I don’t know why he had to wait 16 years for a postcard. Probably someone found the card and put it in the mailbox. We get questions about these stories sometimes every year. Someone got a card 30 to 40 years ago a couple of months ago, but I don’t have any figures, I’m afraid,” said Ljungberg.

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POST

‘A new generation of stamps’: Deutsche Post rolls out QR-style tracking codes

German stamps will soon be kitted out with individual matrix codes to help stop letters getting lost in the mail, national postal company Deutsche Post said Tuesday.

'A new generation of stamps': Deutsche Post rolls out QR-style tracking codes
The new stamp reading 'digital change' and with a QR tracking code. Photo: DPA

Customers will be able to use the codes to track when a letter has arrived in the local processing centre and when it has reached its destination region, Deutsche Post said.

The codes, which are similar to QR codes, will sit alongside the traditional images in what will be “a new generation of stamps”, according to the company.

READ ALSO: How sending parcels in Germany changed in January 2021

“Stamps with matrix codes make our service even more reliable — and the stamps more interesting,” said Tobias Meyer, head of the company's German post and parcel division.

The first stamps featuring the codes will be rolled out from Thursday, with more to follow later in the year.

By 2022, they will be featured on all German stamps.

However, the codes do not allow for full parcel-style tracking and they will not tell customers whether a letter has actually been delivered.

DHL owner Deutsche Post reported record results in January as the pandemic fuels a package boom spurred by online shopping.

Revenues climbed five percent year-on-year to 66.8, buoyed by strong performances from the parcels and express units.

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