World Cup – FRANCE 98 – La Poste

With its solid grounding as a commercial affiliate in the 1992 winter Olympic Games in Albertville, the state-owned company, La Poste, was keen to lend its expertise and know-how to the French Organising Committee for the 1998 World Cup. Among its many tasks, La Poste will be called upon to handle a colossal amount of mail and to produce a special philatelic programme.

Once again La Poste will “be there” on the big occasion. In 1992, it was a member of le club Coubertin comprising all the commercial affiliates for the sixteenth winter Olympic Games in Albertville. Now, six years down the road, it was unthinkable that any other company should be the official Mail Carrier of the 1998 World Cup.

Between now and 1998, the role of La Poste as an active partner in the World Cup will in helping the CFO to develop and prepare the competition in all areas concerning mail. With this special contribution, it will draw on all its expert knowledge and know-how to ensure faultless mail delivery, a service of vital importance to the overall success of the competition. The most striking example of La Poste’s commitment is -of course- the task of guaranteeing complete security for the 2.5 million match tickets that will be sent out from March 1998, both in France and abroad. Much will be at stake, not only the credibility of La Poste but that of France as well. The goal is clear: zero mistakes.

Match ticket delivery , albeit the most talked-about of its functions, is far from being the only service La Poste will provide to the CFO. It also enjoys exclusive world-wide rights for official 1998 World Cup philatelic product and pre-stamped envelopes. As proved the case at the Olympic Games in Alberville, philatelic products bearing the name of a prestigious sporting event both delight collectors and make excellent gifts. The first World Cup stamp, issued in December 1995 to celebrate the World Cup draw, is to be followed by a further eleven (one per host city and one stamp to close the series) between now and the Final on 12 July 1998.

La Poste and its specialised subsidiaries are offering the French Organising Committee all the products and services already available to its company customers, large and small. The made-to-measure services set up at all the official venues, as well as specific structures to meet the CFO’s needs (an integrated mail-handling service for example), will provide the finishing touch to an already comprehensive range of provisions. With its 45,000 company vehicles all decked out in their own FRANCE 98 mascots, it is safe to say that La Poste’s involvement in the World Cup will be difficult for people in France to miss. Via its networks in France and with its pre-stamped envelopes reaching every corner of the globe, La Poste is a tremendous channel through which to relay the FRANCE 98 image. More than ever before, La Poste will be delivering the goods!

La Poste is a self-supporting, publicly owned company entirely unsubsidised by the tax payer: two-thirds of its FF 80 billion turnover stems from mail-carrying with more than three-quarters of these revenues coming from the business world. La Poste employs 300,000 staff and counts itself among the largest French and European service companies. It also performs vital public service duties. In the markets where it is building up its activities (mail and parcel handing), La Poste, increasingly in competition with other companies, is likewise developing a competitive sense perfectly in keeping with its involvement in FRANCE 98.

Between now and June 1998, 2.5 million match tickets are to be safely delivered to World Cup spectators. This unique task will need top-quality organisation and service. La Poste will therefore probably make use of a tracing device which will enable it to keep track of each envelope by means of a personal bar-code.

This device, already used in the La Poste Group – particularly by Chronopost – a subsidiary devoted to express mail – will supplement the standard security measures already employed for registered mail, namely acknowledgment of receipt, and will ensure that each envelope arrives safely at its final destination.