Österreichische Post is the company responsible for postal service in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. This company was established in 1999 after its split-off from the mail corporate division of the former state-owned PTT agency Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung ( de; PTV). It is listed on the

Vienna Stock Exchange en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

History

The first standardised postal service was set up between Innsbruck and Mechelen,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in 1490. By 1563 an extensive system of mail routes existed connecting Vienna with cities in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. In 1722 In Emperor Charles VI made the postal service a

government monopoly In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law. It is a monopo ...

and by the mid-18th century passenger carrying

mail coach A mail coach is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail. In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office-approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. M ...

service began. During the 1800s letter boxes, money orders, cash-on-delivery services were introduced and a

pneumatic mail Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines, also known as pneumatic tube transport or PTT) are systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum. They are used for transporting solid objects, a ...

system was setup in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1875.

The first regular international airmail route between

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

and

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

was established on March 31, 1918, and terminated on October 15. Three definitive stamps were

overprint An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a Postage stamp, postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or Ticket (admission), ticket after it has been Printing, printed. Post offices most often use ...

ed "FLUGPOST" for this flight and showed that a regular airmail delivery was feasible even during wartime. Many philatelists consider this regular post delivery with aeroplanes to be the actual start of airmail history.

Postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal a ...

s were introduced nationwide in 1966.

Philately

Though not in general use until 80 years later, the first postmarks were introduced in 1787 by Georg Khumer, a postmaster in

Friesach Friesach ( sl, Breže) is a historic town in the Sankt Veit an der Glan (district), Sankt Veit an der Glan district of Carinthia (state), Carinthia, Austria. First mentioned in an 860 deed, it is known as the oldest town in Carinthia. Geography ...

identifying time and place of use, and Austria's first

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

s were issued in 1850.

Services

Since 1986 Österreichische Post started Express mail services and is an EMS Cooperative contracted delivery agent within the UPU. In April 2020, Österreichische Post launched bank99, a credit institution that offers online services as well as personal customer support at around 1,800 service points throughout Austria. Österreichische Post owns 80% of the bank's shares, while a 20% stake is held by CAPITAL BANK – GRAWE GRUPPE AG. Post offices and postal service partners serve as distribution channels, which allows bank99 to potentially provide financial services for 99% percent of the Austrian population, closing supply gaps in rural areas. bank99 offers checking accounts for private customers, services for national and international financial transactions, and credit cards. Secure international money transfers are carried out in partnership with

Ria Money transfer Ria Money Transfer is a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide, Inc., which specializes in money remittances. Ria initiates transfers through a network of agents and company-owned stores located throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pa ...

. The company has positioned itself in opposition to direct banks, offering personal services through a network of physical locations. Austria 1910 10k Franz Josef

Controversy

In 2019, Austria's data protection authority imposed a fine of 18 million euros ($20 million) on Österreichische Post for illegally using customers’ data, such as ages and addresses, to calculate a probability of which political party they might support and sell its findings.Kirsti Knolle (October 29, 2019)
Data privacy fine to hit Austrian Post's 2019 profit
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Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

''.

References

External links

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Vienna Stock Exchange: Market Data Österreichische Post AG

History of Post, Telegraphs and Telephone in Vienna - 1905
(In German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Osterreichische Post Service companies of Austria