Letter volumes have plummeted due to e-billing, e-government, and messaging. ELTA itself frames the move as a response to “digitization” and a “steep decline in traditional letter mail,” with double-digit drops in usage reported in recent years. Fewer letters = less walk-in traffic = idle counters.
For thousands of elderly Greeks, especially in rural Crete, the post office is not about envelopes — it is where the pension arrives. When that counter closes, access to cash means a bus ride to another town, or no access at all. Many of these pensioners have no online banking, no smartphone, and no car. The state calls it “rationalization.” They call it what it feels like — abandonment.
The market was liberalized, and ELTA lost share.
Greece fully liberalized the postal market in 2013, following the EU’s Third Postal Directive. ELTA retained the Universal Service Obligation (USO) hat but had to compete against faster, price-competitive private couriers. That combination (USO costs + open competition) is structurally rigid.
The network was oversized for today’s demand.
Closing 204 branches (~40–45% of the network) is a classic cost-cutting consolidation: fewer low-traffic counters, more central hubs, and mobile/partner points. Management and government briefings present it as “efficiency” and “long-term viability.” Translation: too many fixed costs for too little revenue.
The USO is expensive—and underfunded.
Maintaining universal access across an archipelago and mountain villages is costly. When the compensation for the USO lags reality, the incumbent bleeds cash. This is a known European pattern post-liberalization: universal obligations remain; monopoly rents don’t.
Management is executing a multi-year restructuring.
ELTA says the branch cull follows mergers with ELTA Courier, fleet renewal, digitization, and staff retraining. After the “easy” wins, the heavy lift is in bricks-and-mortar: shutting down sites, reassigning people, and reducing rent and payroll.
Politics reacted—but the arithmetic didn’t.
The move triggered backlash across parties and regions, but even critics concede the decision is already rolling. Some ministers were blindsided; others had been briefed weeks earlier on HCAP/management. The outrage is absolute; so are the closure orders.
Rural Greece pays the price first.
When you pull out cash, elderly, cash-reliant, and small-business users are hit: pensions, payments, and parcels become harder to access. That’s the social cost of a financial fix—felt in villages before it’s felt in cities. (Even mainstream coverage flags the impact on remote areas.)
What really happens next (beyond the press lines):
- Headcount/roles shift to “more active positions” and delivery hubs; fewer window clerks.
- Real estate is rationalized (sell/lease exits; fewer leases).
- Partner points/pick-up spots and courier integration fill some gaps, but not all.
- Service becomes more digital by design; physical access becomes episodic (mobile units, fewer days/hours).
ELTA is closing offices because the economics of brick-and-mortar letters don’t work in a digitized, competitive market—especially with an expensive universal-service map and years of underinvestment that left the network heavy and inflexible. The closures are the cost-cutting lever management can pull now. Everything else (equity, access, cohesion) is collateral unless the state directly funds a denser network or redesigns the USO.
