On the 1st January 2023, the red stamp will completely disappear from post offices. To send urgent mail, it will now be necessary to use a red e-Letter, a completely digital solution. But this change is not to everyone’s taste. Many users are concerned about the privacy of their mail.
Already announced last July: the red stamp is doomed to disappear by January 1, 2023. This does not mean that urgent mail will also disappear, although it only represents 4% of shipments in France, according to La Poste. The company has of course provided an alternative solution, entirely digital this time: the red e-Letter.
This new type of mail is part of La Poste’s effort to digitize its services, as also shown by the creation of the digital stamp in 2022. The red e-Letter is therefore, as its name suggests, an urgent digital letter which will be directly printed and enveloped at the place of destination. It will be possible to type the letter directly on the La Poste website or to go to the post office with a paper letter.
WILL LA POSTE BE ABLE TO READ YOUR URGENT MAIL IN 2023?
If at first glance this measure seems (finally) to adapt to its time, many are resistant to the red e-Letter. Starting with the Sud PTT union, whose petition in opposition to the end of the red stamp, which it believes will lead to layoffs and a greater digital divide in France, has collected 28,000 signatures. Another criticism formulated by the opponents: the lack of confidentiality of such a method.
Indeed, by scanning or printing the letter at the destination, employees will in theory be able to access its content. An accusation which La Poste defends itself, by affirming that only authorized employees will be able to handle red mail, and those, in front of customers in the event that it must be scanned. Printing, meanwhile, will be carried out automatically by machines in “secure, locked spaces”.
Note that printed mail will be immediately deleted from La Poste’s servers. Customers wishing to do so will be able to recover them for one year.
