Finnish Mailmen Cruise With Booze as Postal Service Starts Beer Deliveries

In Finland, the post is no longer just there for letters and parcels. The national postal service Posti has taken over as the Finnish brewery Sinebrychoff's nationwide delivery service. Finnish mailmen will therefore end up delivering Sinebrychoff's wide assortment of beer and soft drinks in addition to letters and bills, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported.

However, it's not only about having fun (and a cold beer). Posti staff will also see to it that empty bottles, cans and packaging materials are returned and properly recycled.

In addition, Posti hopes to boost its efficiency with the help of the "beer deal" with Sinebrychoff and avoid the grim necessity of driving near-empty mail trucks long distances.

"In rural areas, Posti has a very dense distribution network that we are now relying on," Sinebrychoff supply chain chief Pasi Lehtinen told Yle, explaining that Posti and Yle will make significant savings by combining their routes and volumes and avoiding extra tours to the Finnish countryside.

Meanwhile, Posti is leaving no stone unturned in its efforts to offset the falling popularity of ordinary, non-electronic mail. Soon, Finnish mail trucks will be filled with all kinds of items imaginable, turning Posti into the country's arguably most diverse delivery company, with 800 logistics contractors.

"We haul freight, general cargo, mail, packages and anything else, really. We're making the most of our size as the country's largest logistics company," Posti logistics manager Jani Lindström said.

Posti already delivers meals to elderly people's homes, and is currently working with internet food ordering services in five Finnish regions, with frozen products next on Posti's growth list. In 2016, Posti ran a pilot program offering lawn mowing.

With a history spanning nearly 400 years, Posti is the main Finnish postal service with a staff of 23,000 and a net income of €1.6bln ($1.7bln).

Sinebrychoff is a Finnish brewer offering beer and soft drinks. Founded in 1819 in Helsinki, Finland by Russian merchant Nikolai Sinebrychoff, it is the oldest brewery in Northern Europe.

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