Privatization of the Post Office can make postal service more expensive and affect the profits of entrepreneurs in the North of the country
August 8, 2021
08:08
Marcela Leiros – from Cenarium
MANAUS (AM) – The House of Representatives approved, on Thursday, 5, the basic text of the project that paves the way for the privatization of the Post Office. Although it seems something geographically distant, the opening of the public company for private capital can make the postal service more expensive and directly impact the sales and profits of small entrepreneurs, especially in the North, where shipments are usually more expensive.
The House plenary is still analyzing the highlights and suggestions for changes in points of the text. After the vote is concluded, the project will pass through the Senate for approval. Faced with this possibility, entrepreneurs like Louise Costa, 28, owner of the online store Louise Pantie, worry about the future of sales.
“I send by mail, but it is still very complicated for those who live here in the North, we end up losing many sales because of the logistics and the very high price, I’ve already lost many sales because even to send to the Northeast, which is not as far away as the South and Southeast, is very expensive. So with the privatization I can’t imagine how it will be and how expensive it can get”, she emphasized.
Minimum freight
The Amazonian told CENARIUM that the minimum freight price that some people need to pay to acquire her products, the “aquendar panties”, intimate pieces produced for transsexuals and drag queens, is around R$60, with a delivery time of one month. If the values increase, it will be necessary to look for other alternatives for deliveries or limit the public.
“The price a person pays for postage alone could be buying say at least three more pieces of mine, so this money could stay with me. The way will be to resort to these platforms or focus even on the North Region, sell close by, through my city, through Manaus, the interior or other states that can send by boat”, reflected the entrepreneur.
Post Office Profits
The economist Denise Kassama, vice president of the Federal Council of Economics (Cofecon), reinforced to CENARIUM, on the last 5th, the concern that the privatization of the Post Office causes.
“Unlike the public power, the private company aims to maximize profits. So, it generates concern about the maintenance of services in small municipalities with low movement, as in the case of the interior of Amazonas, which besides being small, have difficult logistics and can be economically uninteresting. It seems to me that the congressmen forgot that they should act on behalf of the population”, he pointed out.
The federal representative from Bahia, Jorge Solla (PT-BA), pointed out the impacts that privatization will bring to the regions farthest from the economic centers of the country, like the Midwest, Southeast and South.
“I am one of the 173 representatives who voted against the privatization of the Post Office, approved a short while ago. Now, in the highlights, they want to allow private company to charge much more expensive in orders between distant cities, which will hurt more North and Northeast of the country. A postal blackout,” wrote the congressman, in a post on Twitter.