La Poste

C.H. Piarron de Chamousset obtains the right to undertake local postal delivery in Paris but royal government soon takes over that service. The "Petite Poste" (intra-town post) is extended by royal decree throughout France, eventually covering all French municipalities. Postal collections and deliveries are now made every second day to and from homes in every municipality in France, bringing an end to rural isolation. Caisse Nationale d'Epargne (National Savings and Loans) is created with a separate budget and supervised by the posts and telegraphs undersecretariat. Reform law separates the Direction Générale des Télécommunications (DGT) from the Direction Générale de la Poste (DGP). DGT and DGP are converted into independently operating public-sector companies and adopt new names--La Poste and France Télécom, respectively--in recognition of their new legal status. Government forces La Poste to detach its financial services products from its mail services products. La Poste acquires Germany's Denkhaus, expanding its parcel delivery business into Germany and the Benelux countries. La Poste begins offering free e-mail services and Internet access at its post office network. France's La Poste has expanded beyond its position as that country's postal service to become one of the top three logistics, corporate services, and financial providers in Europe, behind Germany's Deutsche Post and ahead of the United Kingdom's Concordia. The government-owned, yet independently operated company holds the number three position for electronic mail services in Europe, the number three spot in the European parcels and logistics sector, and one of the top positions in the French financial services market. These activities combined to produce more than EUR 17 billion in 2001. Among the company's assets is its network of more than 17,000 post offices, which provide mail services, financial services, and Internet access and e-mail services throughout France. The company's Geopost subsidiary, formed in 2000 and located in the United Kingdom, handles the company's parcels and logistics wing, while express mail services are provided through Chronopost International and Tat Express. Since 2001, La Poste has gained controlled of Deutsche Paket Dienst, giving it entry into Germany, as well as adding to its operations in France and England; the DPD acquisition gave La Poste the number two spot in Europe's business-to-business parcel delivery market. Other subsidiaries and participations include Brokers Worldwide, which offers collection, preparation, and other services to U.S.-based international mail dispatchers; Dynapost, which is the French market leader in corporate mail processing; Europe Airpost, formerly the Aéropostale partnership with Air France; INSA, which specializes in print distribution; and Mediapost, the leading French direct mail advertising service. The history of the postal service in France goes back to the time of Julius Caesar, who mentions in his De Bello Gallico a mail service running along the Rhone valley in Gaul. The province then benefited from Emperor Augustus's creation of the cursus publicus, which was at first restricted to carrying administrative mail. Private messages were carried by tabellarii, personal slaves or freedmen in the service of patrician families. During the Middle Ages, the state postal service disappeared, giving way to various private mail services. Messages were carried between abbeys by monks; the messengers of the University of Paris carried letters between the University's numerous foreign students and their families in Europe, and aristocrats and rich merchants such as Jacques Coeur employed messengers for their private correspondence. Messengers were appointed by municipalities, initially restricted to carrying mail between municipal officials, but by the 14th and 15th centuries they were also entrusted with private letters. The royal postal service remained one of many postal services for a