Ukrposhta promises to improve press delivery; editors have doubts: NUJU holds All-Ukrainian meeting with participation of Ihor Smilianskyi

More than 150 media representatives took part in the meeting.

How to ensure high-quality postal delivery of subscription press was the issue discussed on April 25 during the All-Ukrainian meeting of newspaper editors with the participation of the director general of Ukrposhta, Ihor Smilianskyi.

“NUJU‘s basic priority is constant – it is necessary to achieve the government’s implementation of the social program of support for Ukrainian media. This is especially important in times of war when access to information is critical. It cannot be left to the will of the market and commercial relations. Today, the press is more of a mission than a business,” NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized.

In turn, Ihor Smilianskyi noted that, on the one hand, the subscription press circulation has fallen sharply compared to the pre-war level. On the other hand, it has recently stabilized to some extent. According to him, Ukrposhta does everything to make postal services as high-quality and efficient as possible.

“Ukrposhta takes measures to ensure that newspapers are delivered the next day after publication or in the coming days,” said Ihor Smilianskyi.

In particular, delivery control measures were taken: new equipment and software were introduced, and routes and schedules were optimized.

The director general added that mobile branches of Ukrposhta also perform an important function of delivering mail to stationary branches. They are also a powerful adaptation tool for working between attacks.

“For example, in some regions, we are not working this Saturday because the military warned us that there… we will not be able to work,” said the director general.

According to Smilianskyi, the Ukrposhta website has organized a subscription for the second half of 2024 at discounted rates: instead of UAH 15, the subscriber will pay only UAH 1. “We have lowered the tariff to motivate people to pay in advance,” the director general of Ukrposhta emphasized.

PHOTO: Ihor Smilianskyi at the meeting

During the meeting, the editors recognized that the current non-compliance with the conditions and quality of postal delivery is a threat to the Ukrainian press. And so far, they doubt the realism of the fundamental improvement of delivery from the second half of the year. According to the results of the survey conducted among the participants of the meetings, the assessment of the quality of postal delivery of the press ranged mostly between 1 and 5 points on a 10-point scale. The editors consider the lack of mail carriers, high tariffs, stationary post office shutdowns, and improper work of mobile post offices to be the main problems of the industry.

The online-event was carried out by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine with the support of the Project ‘Improving Media Resilience in Ukraine’. Implemented by Fondation Hirondelle (Switzerland) and IRMI, the Institute for Regional Media and Information (Ukraine). Funded by Swiss Solidarity Foundation.

NUJU Information Service