“The postman always rings twice,” once for handing over letters and once… for handing over your medicine or your clean clothes.
This will be common practice in Greece at least, according to the CEO of Hellenic Post (ELTA), Kostis Melachrinos. From the end of January in Athens and then in other major Greek cities, residents who are ill, have limited mobility, the elderly or anyone who cannot leave home, can have their prescriptions delivered by post. The postman picks up the prescription from the local pharmacy, pays and delivers it to the customer, who then pays for the items and delivery service.
There will be a dedicated phone line set up for this new service, the charge for which will be €3.
In the following phase, ELTA managers are hoping that the scheme can be rolled out to include delivery of clean clothes from the laundry or shopping from the supermarket, as practiced for many years now in Belgium.
In 2013 Hellenic Post reported a loss of around €6 million, but its finances are expected to improve in 2014, with estimated profits of up to €7 million. CEO Melachrinos considers that “the year 2014 will be difficult. Our main objective is keep the quality of service constant, while adding more options, reducing costs and optimizing staff allocation.”
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