Private Delivery Services to Be Squeezed out in russia for the Sake of “russia’s post”

russia is preparing legislative changes that will hit private delivery services and marketplaces hard. minister of digital development of the rf maksut shadayev has effectively acknowledged that the state will intervene in the market to pull the loss-making “russia’s post” out of crisis. This will be done by changing the rules for everyone else.

In recent years, private companies have captured the most profitable segments – fast commercial delivery and e-commerce services. The state operator has been left with social functions, regulated tariffs, and chronic financial problems. Now, instead of internal reform, it is proposed to redistribute the burden across the entire market.

The key idea is to level the playing field. In reality this means that private services will be subject to additional requirements, restrictions, and costs to ensure that they operate under rules that are as close as possible to those of the state operator. In fact, successful players risk losing their flexibility and competitive advantages.

In parallel, the government plans to index postal rates, which in the long run may lead to an overall increase in delivery costs. If regulation is expanded, businesses will be forced to pass on the new costs to customers.

When the initiatives are adopted in their strict form, private delivery services will be under serious pressure – not because of market competition, but because of government intervention. As a result, the market will lose its momentum for growth, while consumers will lose choice and affordable prices.