Out With The Old...
The Polish Postal Company (Poczta Polska) is about to change its logo – the horn will now be against a red background, not a blue one. As a result, 4,500 company cars and 50,000 post boxes will need to be repainted while new employees’ uniforms are soon to be ordered. The new logo is to be revealed next year – most likely in May. It has already been copyrighted at the Patent Office. The background and shape of the horn will be different while the new red colour is reminiscent of the company’s “royal roots” – back in the 16th century its envoys wore red uniforms. The logo is not the only element that apparently needs modifications.
Poczta Polska branches will soon resemble modern banks. The glass pane that now separates postal clerks from customers is to be removed, employees are to be friendlier and more competent. The company letterhead, business cards and uniforms will all be brand new. Poczta Polska refuses to reveal the costs of the operation but according to Gazeta Wyborcza the new uniforms alone will cost over PLN 35 million. Poczta Polska has decided to put these thorough changes into effect despite a dramatically poor financial situation – for 2 years the company has been cutting costs and laying off its employees. In 2009 and similarly in 2008 it sustained losses of PLN 200 million. The company is clearly undergoing a crisis, having a tough time handling pressure from its competitors and is also far behind in terms of technology. Poczta Polska is about to implement a parcel tracking system which has been standard for its competitors for quite some time now. A Poczta Polska spokesman explains that the company is fully aware of its difficult financial condition but nevertheless believes that it will soon show a profit. Repainting company vehicles and refurbishing post offices will undoubtedly take years.
Gazeta Wyborcza
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I believe it is the most important for Poland to improve the infrastructures that convey things – such as people, goods, cars, electricity, gas, petrol, water, information, etc. Joseph Schumpeter insist that innovation is the key for the long term economic growth through creating new demands, not the aggregate demand management policies, which your Mr Jacek Rostowski call the “deep Keynesian” projects, by either the government or central bank, and that improving those infrastructures would trigger innovation by providing people with chances. Luckily, there are more than a few de facto Austrian school members among the policy makers in Poland, who are arguing importance of squeezing the money for such public investments out of the limited government budget and financial conditions as well as the budget-cut policies under their economic liberalism. Their highly balanced view makes me believe that Poland would have the brightest future.
Has the above something to do with changing the corporate identity of Poczta Polska? My answer is “yes” simply. Poczta Polska conveys letters, parcels and relatively small amount of money, and it is not the legal entity but its personnel that actually convey them. Its reliability solely relies on their sense of mission, moral, pride and joy of working for the postal service, which comes out of their morale. Refreshing the logo and uniforms will greatly contribute to improving the morale. The same phenomenon often happens with other businesses including Poczta Polska’s peers in the other countries. So, this is more than a hope.
Many thanks for the comments, Jasiek. Yes, there IS hope and I agree that innovation (as well as research) is vital but I feel much more has to be done on a local level.
Of course much more has to be done on the local level. I am very happy, however, that we have seemingly agreed on the point that the change of its corporate identity is not useless.