By TOMOYA FUJITA/ Staff Writer
October 1, 2024 at 15:58 JST
A total of 1,389 post offices nationwide will have a midday break starting in November. (Tomoya Fujita)
Running to the post office during lunch won't be an option at an increasing number of post offices nationwide.
Japan Post Co. announced on Sept. 30 a significant expansion of its lunch break policy at post offices nationwide to improve working conditions and reduce operational costs.
Starting in November, an additional 1,373 post offices will introduce a one-hour midday break between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Previously, only 16 post offices had such a policy.
The move, aimed at addressing declining customer traffic, is designed particularly for offices staffed by only the postmaster and one employee, and will allow smaller post offices to operate more efficiently with fewer staff.
With this expansion, approximately 7 percent of all post offices, excluding smaller franchised outlets, will have a midday break. Japan Post plans to expand the policy to other post offices in the future.
Japan Post Group has been grappling with declining postal and banking services, prompting the organization to implement cost-cutting measures.
In July 2021, a pilot program began to introduce either earlier closing times, lunch breaks or both at 53 post offices in rural and remote areas.
Plans to expand the midday break policy were previously considered last year but were postponed due to internal coordination challenges.
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