That old habit of paying only for the mail you send is going to end. Soon, some customers will also pay to receive shipments.
As of 31 January 2020, the Finnish postal service (Posti) will charge a handling fee of 2.90 euros for any shipments of more than 22 euros arriving from outside the EU tax territory.
This new charge will specially affect the purchases made online, the company informed in a press release. "As international e-commerce grows, the fee will cover the costs of handling, reporting and storage of the shipments," Posti said.
However, the Finnish postal operator states that "the majority of shipments arriving in Finland are low value shipments of less than 22 euros, which will not be charged at this stage."
Protect domestic commerce
"The costs of international e-commerce are thus borne by these activities. This is important for fair trading and the competitiveness of domestic e-commerce, says Sami Finne , Director of International e-commerce services at PostI.
Thus, company also justifies the measure as an extra protection for national electronic commerce. Posti also stressed that, among the Nordic countries Sweden and Iceland have introduced similar charges for shipments from outside the EU.
How to pay
Customers will receive a paper-based arrival notification or an electronic notification of a customs clearance shipment to the OmaPosti service. This notification will include all the instructions on how to make the payment with a credit card through the secure website Posti.fi.
Shipment taxes and the handling fee must be paid within 20 days after arrival in Finland of the shipment. Once both payments have been made, Posti said will deliver the parcel "immediately" to the recipient. In case the payment is not properly done, the shipment will be returned to the sender.
