Íslandspóstur
 | |
Native name | Íslandspóstur hf. |
|---|---|
| Formerly | Póstur og Sími |
| Industry | Postal Service |
| Founded | 1776 (foundation)
1873 (independent agency) 1935 (merger with Landssìmì) 1998 (split from Síminn) |
| Headquarters | Höfðabakki 9D, Reykjavík, Iceland |
Area served | Iceland |
| Owner | Government of Iceland |
Number of employees | 580 |
| Website | posturinn.is |
Íslandspóstur (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈistlan(t)sˌpʰoustʏr], lit. 'Iceland Post') or simply Pósturinn ([ˈpʰoustʏrɪn], lit. 'The Post') is the national postal service of Iceland. It is wholly owned by the Icelandic Government. It dates back to the year 1776 when Christian VII, king of Denmark ordered a mail service to be established in the country. Its current form was established in 1998 following the split from the state telecom, Síminn.[1][2]
Iceland Post is a member of the Universal Postal Union and the Small European Postal Administration Cooperation.[3]
History
[edit]Icelandic postal history dates back to the year 1776 when Christian VII, king of Denmark (and of Iceland at the time) ordered a mail service to be established in the country. Two years later, regular postal sailings began between Iceland and Denmark, once a year. The first Icelandic postage stamps were published in 1873, and at the same time, the Icelandic postal system was being organised under a special board and the first post offices being established.[1]
In 1916, a large post office was constructed at Pósthússtræti (namesake, lit. 'post office street') in central Reykjavík, where all post was sorted.[4] Until the 1960s, it was the only post office in Reykjavík, when city district post offices began to be established. The Reykjavík post office was the main sorting office for the whole country.[5] International Airmail began in the 1950s, as well as domestic airmail becoming an important part of the distribution network in the latter part of the 20th century.[6][7]
Conditions were considered cramped in the central Reykjavík sorting office. As a result, in 1984 a new sorting office was built in Ármúli, then in the outskirts of Reykjavík.[5] The relatively new sorting office in Ármúli was designed with manual sorting in mind and was already unsuitable by the 1990s. As a result, a large purpose-built postal sorting warehouse was constructed at Höfðabakki in 1998. It is still in use as the main sorting centre and headquarters for Iceland Post as of 2024.[8] The sorting office in Ármúli later became the headquarters of Síminn in 2000, after the split.[9]
The original Pósthússtæti post office, built in 1916, remained a local post office until it was closed in 2018.[4] It was converted to a food hall in 2022, called the 'Post Office Food Hall'.[10]
In 1935, the postal service and the national telephone company were merged under the name Póstur og sími (Post and Telephone). In rural towns, Póstur og Sími constructed combined facilities which housed telephone exchanges, telecom equipment, retail post offices and sorting offices. In 1998, postal services were split from telecoms becoming Landssími Íslands (later called Síminn, Iceland Telecom) and Íslandspóstur (Iceland Post).[2]
In 2005, Iceland Post aquired the telegram service from Síminn, having previously been operated jointly before the split. Telegrams were mostly used at the time for formal and commemerative messages to family (e.g. confirmations, birthdays). The telegram services were discontinued in 2018.[11]
In the 2020s, in response to poor finances, Iceland Post began significantly reducing the number of post offices, both in rural areas and in the Reykjavík region. Self-service parcel lockers have been introduced in place of post offices. The number of post boxes have also been reduced.[12] In 2020, Iceland Post announced it would cease issuing new stamps, exiting the philately market. It will continue to sell existing editons of older stamps and may reprint older stamps if necessary to replenish its stock.[13]
Operations
[edit]Iceland Post operates postal services in Iceland under a universal service obligation. It delivers international and domestic letters and parcels countrywide. It also operates post offices, post boxes and parcel lockers. In some post offices it offers packaging, boxes and stationery for sale, as well as Western Union money transfer services. Stamps are sold in post offices as well as through some distributors such as service stations, convenience stores and bookstores.[14]
See also
[edit]External links
[edit]- (in Icelandic) Official website
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- ^ a b "Báru út póst á aðfangadagskvöld - Vísir". visir.is (in Icelandic). 2005-01-16. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ a b Háskólabókasafn, Landsbókasafn Íslands-. "Tímarit.is". timarit.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ "Member Countries". www.upu.int. Retrieved 2025-02-01.
- ^ a b "Ekkert pósthús lengur í Pósthússtræti - RÚV.is". RÚV. 2018-12-27. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ a b Háskólabókasafn, Landsbókasafn Íslands-. "Tímarit.is". timarit.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ "Morgunblaðið - 117. tölublað (25.05.1949) - Tímarit.is". timarit.is. Retrieved 2025-02-01.
- ^ "Morgunblaðið - 276. tölublað (30.11.1949) - Tímarit.is". timarit.is. Retrieved 2025-02-01.
- ^ "Skrifað undir verksamning um byggingu póstmiðstöðvar". www.mbl.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ Háskólabókasafn, Landsbókasafn Íslands-. "Tímarit.is". timarit.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ "Pósthús mathöll opnar á föstudaginn". www.mbl.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2025-02-01.
- ^ "Skeytaþjónusta Póstsins hættir - RÚV.is". RÚV. 2018-07-18. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ Reynisson, Rúnar Snær (2024-03-22). "Pósturinn lokar tíu pósthúsum á landsbyggðinni - RÚV.is". RÚV. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
- ^ McCarty, Denise (May 8, 2020). "A new dead country: Iceland to stop issuing stamps". Linn's Stamp News. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
- ^ "Stakt rit". www.stjornarradid.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2025-01-31.