Latvia's postal company rebrands and reshapes its network as parcel locker demand surges

State joint-stock company Latvijas Pasts is adapting to a changing industry in which traditional postal services are declining while interest in parcel lockers and digital services keeps rising. Board member Andris Puriņš explains that the state has a mandate to ensure postal services nationwide at uniform tariffs, but falling demand for in-person services is pushing the company to change its approach.

A new brand

Last year the company introduced a new visual identity, changing its colour palette and shortening its name to simply "Pasts", dropping "Latvijas" from the public brand. The rebrand, along with a new self-service portal and website, cost 223,000 euros, with the rollout planned over two years. The legal name VAS Latvijas Pasts remains unchanged — only the public brand is shifting, similar to how Latvenergo operates under the brand Elektrum.

Fewer branches, new format

Of the current 155 in-person service points, 27 already operate under the new concept, located in high-traffic areas such as shopping centres. In Bauska, such a centre is housed inside the Rimi supermarket. These new-format centres are open on Saturdays, and in some locations on Sundays as well. Foot traffic at in-person locations is falling by about 10% a year, while demand grows for the newer "Postman at Home" service, now used almost 20,000 times a month, most heavily in Latgale.

Parcel locker growth

Latvijas Pasts manages 440 parcel lockers nationwide, 33 of them in areas where it is the only provider of this service. In Bauska municipality, demand for parcel locker services in the first quarter of this year rose 256% year-on-year, after an earlier increase of more than 238% recorded in Bauska town. Growth was also seen in Smiltene municipality, up 180%. The company currently employs about 550 postal workers, who deliver parcels, subscribed press and home-delivered pensions.