Poste italiane

1862–1990

The n.604 national law of 5 May 1862, (the so-called Postal reform)^[6], created a national and centralized organization for postal service by the introduction of a unique general fee to pay for services, the postal stamps, among the whole territory of the newly formed kingdom of Italy. Subsequently, with the Royal Decree 5973 of 10 March 1889, the Directorate General of Posts and Telegraphs was separated from the Ministry of Public Works and thus turned into the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. It was commissioned to create a network of offices in Italy to forward and receive mail and telegrams, to make and receive telephone calls, and to carry out financial transactions and assets management. It also worked as branch offices for the nascent electric services for a time.

The giro service, (commonly known as BancoPosta since 2000), was founded in 1917. In 1924, during the Fascist period, the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs was renamed Ministry of Communications becoming an important center of power. The services network was expanded with the acquisition and implementation of new logistics facilities. New buildings in Functionalist style were built in the major cities.

With the development of telephony and radio communication, the Ministry incorporated the State Company for Telephone Services (ASST) and the nascent EIAR (which would later become RAI and run both public radio and television).

1990–2000

In the early 90s, the Italian public administration and postal service were deemed irrecoverable in efficiency and profitability. The budget deficit increased personnel costs, which in 1986 absorbed about 93% (including 16% for pensions) of the current revenue. From 1970 to 1985 employees’ productivity was reduced by 24% at the expense of the quality of services provided, generating an ever more critical deficit situation.

In 1994, in (Germany), the regular average of the delivered daily mail after dispatch was almost 80%, while in Italy the comparable statistic was less than 20%. In 1989, the average time for mail delivery was 8.5 days.

They tried to contain the obvious gap in the quality of Italian postal service compared to the rest of Europe, with the n.487 Decree-Law of 1 December 1993, converted by n.71 law of 29 January 1994. This led to a transformation of the Italian Post Office from an independent company to a public business, by achieving an additional step in SpA by 1996 (implemented after 28 February 1998)^[7]. The transformation process required the adoption of the production efficiency principle, the recovery of the quality of services and the economic and financial recovery by the management of the Italian Post Office.

This led to the gradual reduction of the 4,500 billion lira deficit, in 1993, through specific policies to reduce production costs (80% of which due to staff costs^[8]), through the increase in revenues from the sale of services to the PA and by a reordering of the tariff system, reaching in 2001 a net profit^[9].

In February 1998, the Ministry of the Treasury (The Prodi I Cabinet) appointed Corrado Passera, as the CEO of the newly formed Italian Poste SpA^[10]. The business plan made by Corrado Passera from 1998 to 2002, created a staff cutting of 22,000 units.^[11]

On the other hand, according to some trade union leaders, there was a casualization of contracts for new recruits, cases of widespread harassment and resignation for workload due to the excess of staff cuts.

The Solidarity Fund was used for saving on labor costs as well as lowering the average age of the staff. The last two years of missing contribution of the early-retired employees were paid by a deduction in payroll of the new employees for 10 years. The company offsets these losses replacing them by the recruitment of many under-24-years-old young workers, giving them a three-year apprenticeship contracts.

2000–2010

In 2000, the Italian Post Office, through its subsidiary SDA Express Courier, acquired 20% of the share capital of the Bartolini company, making officially the Consortium Logistics and Parcels with the three major companies for the sorting of parcels in the country. This agreement was also the subject of a challenge by the rival companies in court, but it ended in favor of the Consortium.

Poste Italiane has also adopted a control system to monitoring in real time all the post offices, the logistics network and the security of digital communications and transactions working with the Italian government, international agencies, universities and research centers.

The importance of financial products and services such as the Postepay prepaid card, have been increasing in the last few years. Postepay, introduced first in 2003, achieved a great success, especially among the youngest, conquering and maintaining first position at European level among pre-paid cards sector.

2010–present

In 2011, Poste Italiane acquired UniCredit MedioCredito Centrale for €136 million.^[12]

On 16 May 2014, the Italian government approved the stakes sale of up to 40 percent in Poste Italiane.^[13]

The company was forced to close 455 offices in 2015 due low profit^[14], according to the Poste Italiane Spa CEO Francesco Caio’s decision. There would have been a total amount of 13000 postal offices in Italy in 2015.

Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), which now owns 64.696% of Poste Italiane Spa, shared about 35% to Borsa Italiana. On 25 May 2016, a further 35% stake was transferred from the ministry to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), making the minority shareholder of the national investment bank. This has given equity in stakes for Poste Italiane, but has also diluted its voting rights in CDP.^[15]