The Liberalization of European Postal Markets: The Response of Firms and Impacts on Employment and Services

From 2011 onwards the last remaining barriers to competition in most European postal markets will be eliminated. Supporters of liberalization and privatization have argued that competition and private ownership will induce service providers to improve efficiency. And greater efficiency will benefit service users as services will become cheaper and of better quality. This article challenges the view that liberalization and privatization unanimously enhance efficiency and quality and equally benefit all service users. Based on a series of company studies, it argues that liberalization and privatization in the European postal sectors had mixed effects with respect to efficiency and quality and mostly negative effects for employment and working conditions. It furthermore questions the idea that the changes have equally benefited all users. Actually, liberalization and privatization have fuelled diversification and fragmentation, producing winners and losers from the restructuring processes.