Operation report from Bring – in connection to the coronavirus situation

E-commerce is still staying at a very high level and as a result there are unusually large amounts of parcels delivered throughout Norway and some delays may occur.

- This week there is a 25 per cent increase in deliveries of large parcels, compared with the same week last year. Extra trips are run to be up to date.

- The use of "Norgespakken" has increased by 20 per cent compared to the same week last year. The use has been so great that in some places the address labels are empty and customers are encouraged to buy "Norgespakken" at posten.no. Customers are otherwise good at picking up parcels at Post in Shop and Post offices, on average the parcels only stay one day before they are picked up.

- There is an increase of around 150 per cent for parcels sent to the mailbox. The use of the service is now on a par with the Christmas season, and delays may occur.

- Across the country, there is a sharp increase in home delivery. We do our utmost to be up to date, but some may unfortunately experience delays on the selected delivery day.

- Work on the railway in Sweden delays deliveries to Finnmark.

- The international volume of parcels in and out of Gardermoen is about to normalize. Delays in international letters must still be taken into account.

Updated on 15 April, 2020:

This Easter, there has been an unusual amount of shopping online. In many places in Norway, Posten and Bring deliver a record number of parcels to mailboxes and home delivery parcels to the customers. Large quantities of parcels combined with bad weather in several parts of the country can cause delays in deliveries until the coming weekend.

In Oslo, Akershus and Østfold, there may be delays in home delivery of parcels to private individuals, which has seen a large increase recently. Bring and Posten Norge are doing our utmost to ensure that as many deliveries as possible go as normal and reallocate employees to where the need is greatest.

The postal route between Western Norway and Eastern Norway will be delayed in several places due to bad weather at mountain crossings, which creates problems for the Bergen railway. The weather in Northern Norway also means that mail can be delayed.

Bring and Posten Norge are working to ensure that mail and parcel distribution is up to date before the weekend.

Customers waiting for parcels with tracking are encouraged to check the status of the shipments at posten.no, bring.no or by using Posten's tracking app. It can be downloaded to all smartphones.

The corona situation also causes less regular mail from abroad and into Norway.

Updated on 14 April, 2020:

We are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual all over Norway. The following factors are worth noting:

- Large parcel volumes are on their way out to the Norwegian people. Some delays and deviations will occur due to high volumes and local weather conditions, especially in Northern Norway
- Tracking of parcels can be done in the Posten app, at www.posten.no and www.bring.no
- Bring and Posten Norge are monitoring the situation in relation to the gradual opening of society in Norway - and similarly, we follow developments in Europe that greatly affect international transport and the parcel and freight volumes into Norway.

In the future, operation reports from Posten and Bring will only be updated if there are major operating deviations.

Updated on 6 April, 2020:

We are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual all over Norway. Delays may occur.

Mail will be delivered as usual through Wednesday 8 April. Mail delivery will resume on Tuesday, 14 April. 

Operation reports from Posten and Bring will onwards only be updated when something extraordinary takes place.

Updated on 3 April, 2020:

We are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual all over Norway. Delays may occur.

Uodated on 2 April, 2020:

We are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual all over Norway.

E6 across Saltfjellet has been closed and some delays must be expected in some places in Nordland.

Updated on 1 April, 2020:

We are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual all over Norway.

Demanding weather conditions in Troms and Finnmark have caused challenges the last few days but we are hoping to be back on schedule during the day.

Updated on 31 March, 2020:

We are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual all over Norway.

In Troms and Finnmark, demanding weather conditions have closed a number of roads and mountain passes; which will cause some delays.

Updated on 30 March, 2020:

No major operational changes have been reported the last 24 hours; we are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual all over Norway.

Updated on 27 March, 2020:

We are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual all over Norway. Delays may occur.

Updated on 26 March, 2020:

We are delivering mail, parcels and goods mainly as usual. Delays may occur.

Updated on 25 March, 2020:

These are the latest changes in Norway:

 -    Large increase in customers using the mailbox to send parcels. Earlier this week Posten decided that this service would not be subject to any extra charge, only regular postage.
 -    Strong increase in customers requesting home delivery. We have never had more home delivery of goods than we have had this week. Parcels delivered home to private recipients or to businesses (including institutions) will as a rule be delivered outside the door/on the doorstep.
-    Great pressure on home delivery of goods. Delays may occur
-    Reduced domestic air traffic may result in delays to express deliveries. Cancelled scheduled flights will be partially replaced by re-routing Posten’s cargo flights or road transport
 -    There are high volumes from e-commerce, particularly in pharmacy goods, home electronics and food
 -    A decline in goods volumes to businesses and restaurants that are closing and cancelling orders, and in postal advertising. There are also challenges in international operations
-    Posten has decided that for the time being no employees in the Norwegian operations will be laid off. Posten plays a key role in society by distributing mail, goods and supplies throughout the country. We will have a high level of preparedness in order to ensure deliveries also if sickness absence levels increase.
 -    In operations, staff have been reassigned to ensure that there are sufficient resources where they are needed the most

- Some post offices and ‘Post in Shop’ branches have however temporarily changed opening hours due to the coronavirus situation.  Customers may find an up-to-date overview of opening hours at https://www.posten.no/kart
- For international post we are attempting to find alternative flights to destinations where ordinary scheduled flights have been cancelled. Delays must be expected to the United States until a new route will start operation on 1 April
- In order to reduce the risk of infection to both customers and employees, plexiglass shields have been installed at counters at post offices and ‘Post in Shop’ branches

Coronavirus and pandemic - We are doing everything in our power to maintain our deliveries

The extremely serious situation that has now affected Norway and the rest of the world is putting all aspects of society to the test. Posten and Bring are doing everything we can to maintain agreed deliveries and services.
The very serious situation affecting all of society means that the Posten Norge AS and Bring group is obliged to notify all parties that this is now a force majeure situation. For as long as there is an obstacle to delivery as a result of this, any deviations from agreements will not constitute non-fulfilment.  We hereby announce that we are unlikely to be able to fulfil all our obligations as intended, and that deviations may occur.  Relevant examples of this include collection times, forwarding times, delivery times and our time guarantees.
We must continuously prioritise which services and customer volumes can be produced. Access to personnel, vehicles and other limitations will be key factors. Our prioritisations will be made on the basis of life, health and the key interests of society. At the same time, we would like to emphasise that the group is doing all we can to ensure that agreed deliveries and services take place in accordance with agreements in place.
When delivering goods, we will no longer allow recipients to sign our PDAs due to the risk of infection. This will apply until further notice. Drivers will record deliveries and the GPS coordinates will be recorded automatically upon delivery.

Operation report from Bring – in connection to the coronavirus situation, updated on 16 March, 2020

The delivery of mail, parcels and goods is proceeding more or less as normal.

-    These are difficult times, but we are also seeing a national mobilisation resulting in deliveries to Norwegian households and customers proceeding more or less as normal. We are doing everything we can to maintain a high quality in mail, parcel and goods services that represent an important part of our critical infrastructure, says Tone Wille, CEO at Posten Norge and Bring.

International conditions

The international exchange of mail, parcel and goods shipments is to a greater extent impacted by restrictions in air traffic, which causes cancellations of passenger flights and reduced capacity. Freight transport is considered to play a role critical to society and within the EU the borders are open and the transport of goods by road has a high priority. 
-    The serious situation which is affecting all of society may entail that we will be unable to meet all contractual and customer obligations in the time ahead. We have therefore announced that this is a force majeure situation, so customers are prepared that the situation may quickly change, Wille says.
Bring and Posten Norge are focusing on operations and are continuously working to find good solutions. For this process we have close contact with our international partners, including the other postal organisations in the Universal Postal Union.

More people want home delivery of goods

Increased e-commerce recently has also led to more customers wanting home deliveries. 
-    In order to reduce the risk of infection when delivering packages and goods, we are implementing new digital signing solutions or allowing the drivers to sign themselves, Wille says.
We are following the national health authorities’ recommendations and have also implemented our own group-specific cleaning and hygiene measures for e.g. terminals, post reception centres, drivers and delivery.
As a rule, employees in administrative functions are working from home. So far, the group has not issued any lay-off notices.
The coronavirus situation is being closely monitored. Emergency preparedness is high and a crisis response team has been established in the group.