Hongkong Post should focus on public service, not profit

Two years after the Audit Commission called out Hongkong Post for its lack of profitability and other failings, the postmaster finally moved to fix a structural expense: staff costs. But the audit report probably wasn’t the main catalyst for change.

Rather, it was the fact the government had to ask the Legislative Council for a HK$4.6 billion (US$510 million) bailout to keep Hongkong Post operating for the next three years that forced the postmaster to act.

The crisis facing the city’s postal service has been a long time coming – snail mail has been slowing for postal services worldwide for decades, forcing changes to ensure survival.

That has included axing jobs and rethinking the purpose they serve in the 21st century. One of the most drastic moves came from Denmark where PostNord ended its letter delivery service at the end of 2025 to focus entirely on parcel delivery. The country is one of the world’s most digitalised nations, with 95 per cent of Danes fully integrated into its digital platforms. Ending its 400-year letter service was the correct move.

Obviously, that’s not the case with Hong Kong. We are nowhere near Denmark in terms of development and adoption of digital platforms. But if the government’s ambitious digitalisation plans bear fruit, Hongkong Post’s existential crisis will only deepen.

The government is pushing for more residents to use the iAM Smart one-stop digital services platform to access government services and others. Increasingly, there will be fewer letters to deliver. By the end of 2025, iAM Smart had already accumulated over 4 million users. Hongkong Post must brace itself to adapt to this irreversible trend, unless it wants the government’s digitalisation push to fail.

Adapt or die – that was the alarm sounded by the Audit Commission in 2024. Given the sluggish pace of change, the government has rightly stepped in and pledged to unveil a reform road map by 2028.