France reduces mail deliveries to three days a week
AS an essential service, postal deliveries are continuing while France is on lockdown, but La Poste has announced a reduction.
Faced with a long period of confinement, many people may have ordered some new books or box sets to keep themselves entertained - but are deliveries continuing in France?
READ ALSO What are the rules on lockdown in France?
La Poste
Mail deliveries are considered an essential service so will continue during the lockdown.
However La Poste has announced it is reducing deliveries to four days a week this week and three days a week next week.
In areas where La Poste staff do deliveries of essentials such as meals or medicines for the elderly or ill, these will continue as normal.
"La Poste is asking its customers to concentrate their orders and shipments on what is strictly necessary for them," said a spokesman.
Delivery and sorting office staff will continue to be paid a full wage as their hours are cut.
In the case of parcels and registered post that requires a signature, these will still be delivered by postal workers are taking measures to respect social distancing. Parcels will be left in your mailbox if possible. Anything that requires a signature will instead result in a text message asking is you accept delivery.
If you miss a delivery (which is less likely than usual as everyone stays at home) the parcel will be sent to a collection point in the normal way, choosing the nearest open collection point.
Not all post offices are open. Many, especially the smaller ones, are closed during the lockdownand most are closed on Saturdays. You can find out whether your local post office is open here and which parcel collection points are open here.
Courier firms
If you are ordering online it is not always La Poste that does the delivery, some companies use private courier firms.
Two of France's biggest courier firms - Mondial Relay and Relais Colis - have announced that they are closing all parcel collection points during the lockdown. Their collection points tend to be in shops, some of which have closed while staff in the essential shops that remain open are extremely busy.
The courier firms are used by, among other businesses, eBay and LeBonCoin in France.
READ ALSO France's coronavirus lockdown form - your questions answered
Amazon
Amazon is still open and still delivering, but says it is prioritising priority products and some other items may be temporarily unavailable or take longer to be delivered.
The French site doesn't list the priority products, but Amazon Italy has said that homeware, skincare or sanitary products, items for pets and items for children are among their priority items.
Some deliveries in France are also likely to be delayed after trouble at two depots. Staff at the distribution centre in Douai in northern France and at Montelimar in south east France walked out on Wednesday, claiming that the company's policies were putting their health at risk.
Unions said the retailer had indicated that it would not pay staff who did not go in to work fearing coronavirus contagion, a policy that put other employees at risk.
Unions said the company had also failed to put in place distancing measures and face masks and hand sanitiser gel were in short supply.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire told France Inter radio station: "This coercion is unacceptable and we are going to make sure Amazon knows this."
Banks
Bank branches are closed but internet bank services are continuing as normal.
Most banks are also offering appointments via telephone if you have an urgent matter you need to discuss and some services can now be done electronically such as electronic signatures for certain eligible documents.
Tabacs
These are still open as they count as essential businesses. They don't just sell tobacco products, you can also do a number of administrative functions such as paying fines and buying stamps there.
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Faced with a long period of confinement, many people may have ordered some new books or box sets to keep themselves entertained - but are deliveries continuing in France?
READ ALSO What are the rules on lockdown in France?
La Poste
Mail deliveries are considered an essential service so will continue during the lockdown.
However La Poste has announced it is reducing deliveries to four days a week this week and three days a week next week.
In areas where La Poste staff do deliveries of essentials such as meals or medicines for the elderly or ill, these will continue as normal.
"La Poste is asking its customers to concentrate their orders and shipments on what is strictly necessary for them," said a spokesman.
Delivery and sorting office staff will continue to be paid a full wage as their hours are cut.
In the case of parcels and registered post that requires a signature, these will still be delivered by postal workers are taking measures to respect social distancing. Parcels will be left in your mailbox if possible. Anything that requires a signature will instead result in a text message asking is you accept delivery.
If you miss a delivery (which is less likely than usual as everyone stays at home) the parcel will be sent to a collection point in the normal way, choosing the nearest open collection point.
Not all post offices are open. Many, especially the smaller ones, are closed during the lockdownand most are closed on Saturdays. You can find out whether your local post office is open here and which parcel collection points are open here.
Courier firms
If you are ordering online it is not always La Poste that does the delivery, some companies use private courier firms.
Two of France's biggest courier firms - Mondial Relay and Relais Colis - have announced that they are closing all parcel collection points during the lockdown. Their collection points tend to be in shops, some of which have closed while staff in the essential shops that remain open are extremely busy.
The courier firms are used by, among other businesses, eBay and LeBonCoin in France.
READ ALSO France's coronavirus lockdown form - your questions answered
Amazon
Amazon is still open and still delivering, but says it is prioritising priority products and some other items may be temporarily unavailable or take longer to be delivered.
The French site doesn't list the priority products, but Amazon Italy has said that homeware, skincare or sanitary products, items for pets and items for children are among their priority items.
Some deliveries in France are also likely to be delayed after trouble at two depots. Staff at the distribution centre in Douai in northern France and at Montelimar in south east France walked out on Wednesday, claiming that the company's policies were putting their health at risk.
Unions said the retailer had indicated that it would not pay staff who did not go in to work fearing coronavirus contagion, a policy that put other employees at risk.
Unions said the company had also failed to put in place distancing measures and face masks and hand sanitiser gel were in short supply.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire told France Inter radio station: "This coercion is unacceptable and we are going to make sure Amazon knows this."
Banks
Bank branches are closed but internet bank services are continuing as normal.
Most banks are also offering appointments via telephone if you have an urgent matter you need to discuss and some services can now be done electronically such as electronic signatures for certain eligible documents.
Tabacs
These are still open as they count as essential businesses. They don't just sell tobacco products, you can also do a number of administrative functions such as paying fines and buying stamps there.
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