When asked by moderator Vera Renovica (39) about the case of overpriced e-bikes for postmen, who couldn’t even carry them with the parcels, he immediately said that it wasn’t a small mistake. “We can call those electric bikes a big mistake. It was due to an internal process that was in place at the Czech Post and which allowed the public contract to be issued and the offer of a single interested party to be accepted. It was here that the processes were optimized and eliminated,” he claims.
In addition, none of the people who “could” be responsible for this order work at the Czech Post anymore, and they say it wasn’t even because of the e-bikes in the end. “We agreed on other things and the process as such has been restructured. It should never happen again.” Stephen promises.
The post office also shined a light on the delivery of letters
When the presenter confronted him with comments on Facebook about the delivery of parcels, when the postman doesn’t even ring the bell many times and prefers to leave everything at the branch, he admitted that he also dealt with this, especially with letter parcels.
“That’s exactly what it’s like not coping,” he said without hesitation. “I admit that letter delivery was simply a problem especially last year for the Czech Post and significant attention is focused on them by management. We have a completely new management for letter delivery and prepared measures so that the quality goes up,” he breathed, adding that here too, so-called heads were falling. When asked if there are any penalty points or bonus deductions for similar behavior of delivery drivers in the field, he answered: “Mostly it’s about the organization of work, that was missing.” It was also discussed whether they will increase the price of services this year, whether they will make some cheaper, and also whether it is right for the post office to cut its losses due to the fact that it is getting rid of assets worth hundreds of millions of crowns a year.
The issue of e-bikes for postmen broke out last April, when experts noticed that the newly purchased vehicles, which were supposed to facilitate work in the field, could only carry a load of 120 kilograms, so that in order to accommodate both post office employees and parcels, the delivery person would have to weigh a maximum of 60 kilograms . It was also found that the order was significantly overpriced – the bikes could be bought for half the price in the online store, for which the company Kosmos bikes delivered them to the post office as part of the order. And to make matters worse, she got them at this very half price. The purchase, which amounted to 8 million without VAT, is already being investigated by the police after an audit by the Ministry of the Interior. The state watchdog then released a video demonstrating that after just a month of use, significant wear and tear was visible on the bikes.
Miroslav Štěpán took over the scepter of the loss-making company in March 2023 from the outgoing director Roman Knap. In February of this year, he defended his position even in bankruptcy and became the official general manager from “representative”. Štěpán connected most of his career with Czech Post. He started there in 2002 as a post office administrator, then he was head of marketing for North Moravia and subsequently sales director for North Moravia. Between 2015 and 2018, he was the director of the branch network for South Bohemia, then moved to Prague to manage the nationwide branch network. The latest economic results of the company brought good news – the loss in 2023 compared to 2022 decreased by roughly one billion crowns to 756 million crowns, operating revenues increased by 0.9 percent. This was helped, for example, by the cancellation of 300 branches, job cuts and other operational savings; the operation of real estate was also significantly reflected. Štěpán’s plan is for the post office to be in the black from 2026, also thanks to the restructuring, which is to disconnect the successful Balíkovna from the state enterprise.
Click on the topics that interest you the most in the video!
00:00 – 04:17 About customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with Czech Post.
04:18 – 10:58 About the restructuring of the Czech Post, the Balíkovna department and considerations about the overall privatization of the postal sector.
10:59 – 11:49 About when his family uses the services of competitors to deliver packages.
11:50 a.m. – 12:32 p.m. About the economic stability of the Czech Post, current results and when the company will break even or break even.
12:33 – 17:56 About the delay in restructuring.
17:57-21:45 About the “non-market” behavior of the Czech Post and what it’s like to be the manager of such a company.
21:45 – 26:26 About the fee for the service and why Štěpán does not want more money from the state, but rather cuts some services.
26:27 – 35:38 About the disruption of other branches and the mobile mail project, which is stifling small towns.
35:39 – 43:55 About the sale of property and whether it is thanks to it that the post office shows slightly better numbers and whether this is the right tactic.
43:56 – 45:16 About how many places Czech Post will cut in the near future.
45:17 – 47:06 About postmen who do not ring with parcels and related changes in management.
47:07 – 49:35 About what the post office will make more expensive and what, on the contrary, could make it cheaper.
49:36 – 53:11 About the testing of new uniforms for 5 million CZK or about overpriced e-bikes for 8 million CZK, which are in the hands of the Police of the Czech Republic.
53:12 – 01:00:08 About management contracts in Czech Post, the golden parachute for Roman Knap and the clause that Miroslav Štěpán has.
01:00:09 – 01:06:30 About Miroslav Štěpán’s career milestones and the future of the Czech Post in 20 years.
Players show: Those who rule the Czech Republic regularly in Blesk!
For the second year, Blesk brings readers and viewers the exclusive program Players, in which everyone who means something in the Czech Republic in the sphere of business, politics and at the interface of these two disciplines take turns. About an hour long interviews conducted by Vera Renovica, an experienced moderator of political debates and interviews with top constitutional officials (39) can be enjoyed every two weeks on the Blesk.cz website. And always on Monday (in case of holidays we will announce a shift). All this to allow our readers to look behind the curtain behind which decisions are made about our lives, wallets or the future of our children. If you want to know more about those who really rule the country you live in, look at Players on Blesk.cz!
