Worker shortage due to COVID delays postal delivery in Helsinki

Labor shortages caused by the worsening coronavirus situation hampered the delivery of traditional mail in parts of the capital region.

The situation is made more difficult by the further worsening of the COVID-19 and seasonal flu situation, said the national postal and logistic services operator Posti in a press release on Tuesday.

Exposures, quarantines and sickness absences caused by COVID-19 have also increased at Posti, and predicting their magnitude is difficult.

Posti estimates that local delivery will delay by 1–2 days in the capital region in the coming weeks.

The situation, however, is stable in the other parts of the country.

Labor shortages and the increased amount of sick leave are a complicated equation to solve quickly, said Posti, adding that in some areas, the number of sickness absences has doubled when compared to last year.

“Health and safety are matters on which we do not compromise. It is the best way to ensure the continuity of our services and our contribution to maintaining the security of supply. We will do our best to ensure that our services work as well as possible in this exceptional situation; for example, by making additional delivery rounds this week. Our precautionary COVID-19 measures are based on the instructions of the authorities and are partly even stricter, as we want to do everything we can to protect our employees, their families and our customers,” said Jarmo Ainasoja, Head of Exception Management at Posti.