Ardaska Posta

Ardaska Posta

Type	State-owned enterprise
Industry	Postal services, financial services, government services, retail services
Headquarters	12 Dumanića Street, Hran, Ardalia
Key people	Ilija Kuzmić, CEO
Services	Letter post, parcel post, courier, EMS, financial and retail services
Owner	Republic of Ardalia
Number of employees	12,657
Website	http://www.posta.ar

Ardalian Post (AP) (Ardalian: Ardaska Posta) is the state-owned postal service of the Republic of Ardalia. It provides daily mail delivery to all addresses in Ardalia except on Sundays and holidays. In addition to its postal and logistics services, it also offers financial and retail services throughout Ardalia. The country is a full member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). AP is solely responsible for issuing postage stamps of the Republic of Ardalia.

History

To be determined

Structure

The company is divided into four divisions: Post Division, Network Division, Express Division and Support Division. This was done in 2012 to improve business communications, clearly define powers and responsibilities, and better position Ardalian Post to be customer-oriented.

The Post Division is in charge of transporting, sorting and delivering letter-post items. The Network Division manages the network of post offices. The Express Division is in charge of the express delivery service – Paket24. The Support Division is responsible for accounting, controlling and maintenance and modernization of post offices.

In addition to the divisions, the Post has a nine-member Management Board.

Operations

The postal service operates 1,260 post offices (Postanski Uredi), 400 automated parcel lockers (Paketomat), and maintains 3,340 postboxes (Postanski Kovcezići) throughout Ardalia. There have been preliminary discussions about the deployment of mobile post offices to further expand the reach of postal services. There are nine sorting centers (Sortirni Centari), each one centered to facilitate the mail of several counties and major population centers. Opened in 2019, the Kulica facility is the newest, largest, and most modern in the network. It is located on the outskirts of Hran in close proximity to Hran Airport and to both the A1 and A3 motorways. Staffed by over 1,500 employees and featuring the latest in automatic sorting technology, it can handle over 250,000 letters and 20,000 parcels per hour.

International mail delivered to and from Ardalia is done by contracting cargo services with shipping, rail, airline, and freight truck companies. AP has a fleet of more than 4000 vehicles, 2750 motorcycles, and 1500 bicycles that are used domestically. Mail is generally delivered door-to-door by mail carriers using hand carts and bicycles in urban areas or by van and motorcycle in rural areas.

Ardalian Post has a legal monopoly on the delivery of letters and postcards in Ardalia. There is competition in the parcel sector, with several private multinational firms alongside Ardalian Post. AP controls a 35% share of the domestic parcel delivery market and has aggressive plans to claim a majority within the next five years through increasing the number of automated parcel lockers and resources into the Paket24 service.

12,657 are employed by Ardalian Post. All employees, except for supervisors, are unionized.

Postal services

There are two tiers of postal service:

• Regular Post (Redovna Posta) is the basic class of mail. Domestic mailings typically arrive within three business days, mailings to X within a week, and intercontinental within two weeks. All mailable items, including letters (Pisma) and parcels (Paketi), are eligible for Regular post.
• Priority Post (Prioritetna Posta) receives faster routing and transfer compared to other mail. Domestic mailings are delivered within one to two business days, mailings to X within five days, and intercontinental within a week.

Ardalian Post has an express parcel delivery service called Paket24 that evenly covers the entire country and guarantees either next-day delivery (by 10:00 AM) or standard delivery within 24 hours to more than 550 post offices and all 400 automated parcel lockers (Paketomat). Paket24 shipping pricing is zone-based. 70% of all Ardalian households are located in the less expensive Zone 1. Parcels mailed to destinations in X arrive within five days. All items are insured up to 500 Znaks.

Customers can choose a variety of add-ons to their mailings. These include:

• General Delivery (Poste Restante): mail is delivered to a post office location to be picked up by the recipient.
• Certified Mail (Potvrdena Posta): the mailpiece is electronically tracked and must be signed for upon delivery.
• Registered Mail (Preporucena Posta): the mailpiece is sent with only other registered mail. It must be signed for upon delivery by the designated recipient, and the sender receives a electronic or paper return receipt (povratnica) confirming delivery or an attempt was made. All registered items are insured against loss or damaged up to the indicated amount as determined by the sender.
• Post office boxes (Postanski Pretinci)
• Personal delivery: the mailpiece may only be delivered to the addressee, their legal representative or authorized person.
• Delivery holding at a post office or sorting facility while customers are away from home for an extended period, for up to 30 days.
• Mail forwarding to another address, either because you have moved or are away from home, for up to 90 days.
• Cash on delivery for those who have sold the addressee an item that is being sent in a parcel, at the time of delivery, the addressee will give the indicated amount to the post employee and the money will be delivered to your address or paid to your account. In addition to the value of the item, the addressee also pays a payment service fee.
• Return receipt (povratnica) if the sender needs confirmation that the addressee has recieved their letter or parcel. By signing the return receipt, the addressee will confirm that he/she has received the item and the signed return receipt will be mailed back to the sender.
• Bulky (velik) or fragile (lomljiv) parcel delivery; however, if an item qualifies for both services, then only one is charged.
• Extra insurance

Ardalian Post will NOT post or carry the following: firearms and ammunition; drugs (unless the sender and the addressee are authorized to market or use such drugs under special legislation); dangerous goods that may endanger other postal items, postal facilities, equipment or vehicles or human life and health;, objects prohibited to be carried under special regulations; live animals (unless otherwise defined by UPU regulations); human or animal remains; coins, banknotes, foreign currencies or registered securities of any kind, traveler checks, platinum, gold or silver, whether treated or untreated, precious stones, jewelry or any other precious items.

Non-postal services

Financial services

The Ardalian Post offers offers various financial services. These include:

• Bill payments
• Cash withdrawals
• Money orders
• Electronic payment of pensions and social benefits
• Cash transfers
• Wire transfers
• Currency exchange

The Ardalian Postal Bank (APB), in a joint effort with Ardalian Post, offers banking services in most post offices across the country. Individuals can open new accounts or manage existing accounts, deposit or withdraw funds, set term and termless savings deposits, sign up for credit and debit cards, or make payments. At 154 select post offices, Ardalian Post has set up "financial corners," areas designated for sales discussions and financial advisement including arranging general-purpose loans or obtain insurance policies from Ardalia Osiguranje.

Retail

A variety of retail products can be purchased directly at post offices:

• Books and multimedia
• Letter envelopes, parcel boxes, Paket24 boxes, greeting cards and postcards
• Gifts and toys
• Play games of chance (through Ardalian Lottery)
• Technical goods such as cellphones (and accessories), computer equipment, small household appliances, phone cards, motorway vignettes, etc.
• Office supplies including
• Name plates and house numbers

Ardalian Post offers a rich assortment of products across 14 categories that range from household appliances to groceries and automotive supplies, all at attractive prices. This catalog of products can be found online as 'Yellow Click' or st the post office. Orders made online, over the phone, or at the post office can be either delivered to a person's home or to the nearest post office.

Other

Post offices offer customers other additional services including:

• Public computer terminals
• Public WiFi hotspot
• Printing and photocopying
• Telegrams
• Telefax
• Webmail

Philately

Ardalian Post is the only legal entity allowed to issue postage stamps (Postanska Marka) for the Republic of Ardalia. Stamps are issued of a wide range of themes and motifs from important cultural, historical and sports events to notable Ardalians and the nation's geographic beauty, art, culture and traditions. Over the years, Ardalian stamps have garnered high reputation and world recognition, proven by international philatelic awards for the best and most beautiful stamps and awards for their artistic and design value. Philatelists can purchase previously issued stamp sets and assorted stationary online.

Address format

First Line	Addressee’s title, name and surname or organization name.
Second Line	Locality (village or hamlet) – if the name of the locality is the same as the name of the post office, the locality is not included in the address.
Third Line	Floor and door – only indicate if necessary.
Fourth Line	Street and building – symbols next to the building number such as A, B, etc. should be directly next to the number, e.g. Ilica 10A. In case a space is left between number 10 and letter A, for example Ilica 10 A, the item will be forwarded for manual sorting. Locality, floor, door, etc. are not allowed in this line.
Fifth Line	Destination post office number and name (the digits in the number should be written without separating thousands, followed by a space and then the name of the destination post office which should normally be written in capital letters without abbreviating its name.).
For local postal services, it is not necessary to insert “ARDALIA” below the post office.
For international postal services, the name of the country should be inserted below the last destination address particular.