In an interview with UPU News, Correo Argentino President Vanesa Piesciorovski explains the essential role the Post has played in helping the government reach people across the country’s 2.8 million square kilometres.
Last year, Correo Argentino marked 250 years since the appointment of the first postal worker to the region, the Spaniard Bruno Ramírez, who answered to the Spanish crown in colonial times, explained Vanesa Piesciorovski president of Correo Oficial de la República Argentina SA, commonly referred to as Correo Argentino.“Many things have changed in two and a half centuries, but what has remained in our country is the strategic role of the Post as a fully state-owned enterprise,” she said.
Since the pandemic, it has become clear that, beyond delivering letters and packages, the Post is uniquely positioned to carry out key government initiatives that help to connect not just urban centres, but the farthest reaches of one the world’s largest nations, to provide financial access to regions where banks do not operate, to become, in a sense, a government centre for the residents of Argentina.
“The pandemic had enormous consequences globally, and in our country,” Piesciorovski said. “However, for our company, it represented a huge opportunity to raise awareness on the enormous value of our work. The density of our network, the widespread national presence, the logistical capacity, and the commitment of our workers made the difference.”
Correo Argentino has more than 1,400 commercial branches, approximately 10 times more than the private companies operating there.
“This enormous national presence has enabled Correo Argentino to play a key role in the execution of the national government’s public policies,” Piesciorovski said.
The Post is present in 500 localities in which there is no state bank, so residents of these regions collect their pensions and other government support payments at post offices.
It is this type of reach, this mission, that allows the Post to be instrumental in activities vital to the foundation of Argentina’s democracy, including carrying out the logistics for the national census and election.
Legislative elections were held at the end of 2021, the first such elections during the pandemic. Correo Argentino took great effort to guarantee that the elections ran in accordance with all health and hygiene protocols to protect not only the health of voters, but also that of its staff and elections workers, she said.
Some 63,000 workers participated in the last elections, a 19 percent increase over the 2019 elections. Additionally, the post saw a 35 percent increase in the number of vehicles used (8,534 up from 6,322).
“Those mid-term elections represented a real challenge, given the sheer number of potential obstacles and the total lack of predictability as to how the pandemic would unfold when we started planning,” Piesciorovski said. “Fortunately, we were able to hold successful elections.”
Additionally, the Post was vital to the government’s national census logistics process. Some 500,000 boxes were shipped to the Post’s 30 logistics centres and then parcelled out to 6,500 final destinations.
The Post also plays an important role in the government’s public health strategy, providing logistics for the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as other public health initiatives.
In late December 2020, the first vaccine shipment arrived in Argentina.
“This was an unforgettable experience because the government entrusted us with the national distribution,” Piesciorovski said. “We undertook the enormous responsibility of transporting ‘hope to all our inhabitants.’”
The Post transported more than 55 million doses of the vaccine, and from then on, the importance of having a solid and committed national Post was abundantly clear, she said.
“I will never forget the faces of the people who transported the first vaccines to the interior of the country, nor their colleagues who applauded when those doses went out for delivery,” she said.
Correo Argentino also broadened its services to include digitization of documents in its five digitization centres at which it can process high-volume projects, which allowed it to enter into an agreement with the National Human Rights Secretariat to digitize 18,000 files relating to victims of state terrorism.
By providing this service, the process of organizing information and searching evidence moves much faster, Piesciorovski said, which speeds up the process for victims.
“We were very proud to be able to participate in this process, and to add our standards of security, confidentiality and transparency,” she said.
The Post’s mission is to serve all inhabitants with reliable products and services to ensure communication and exchange among people, businesses and institutions, Piesciorovski said.
“This mission is not just an expression, it is our way of understanding our role and function in society,” Piesciorovski said.