LCQ9: Staffing establishment and operational status of Hongkong Post
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Question:
Regarding the staffing establishment and operational status of Hongkong Post (HKP), will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the (i) establishment, (ii) strength, (iii) recruitment target, (iv) number of job applicants and (v) number of persons who reported for duty in each of the past three years and this year to date for the Postman, Postal Officer and Controller of Posts grades, with a breakdown by rank;
(2) of the number of civil service posts cut by the HKP in each of the past three years and this year to date, with a breakdown by the grade and rank to which the posts belonged;
(3) of the number of (i) non-civil service contract staff and (ii) post-retirement service contract staff employed by the HKP in each of the past three years and this year to date, with a breakdown by the grade and rank to which the posts belonged;
(4) of the number of the HKP staff working on a non-five-day week pattern and their percentage of the overall number of staff in each of the past three years and this year to date, with a breakdown by (i) the branch/unit to which they belonged, (ii) grade and (iii) nature of work; and the expected number of the HKP staff who can be arranged to migrate to a five-day week pattern in the next three years;
(5) of the number of private properties rented by the HKP as office premises and their percentage of the overall number of office premises in each of the past three years and this year to date, and the following information regarding each of the above premises: (i) the annual rental expenditure, (ii) the floor area and (iii) the average rent per square foot;
(6) of the following information regarding the local and non-local e-commerce services provided by the HKP in each of the past three years and this year to date: (i) the original budgeted revenue, (ii) the actual revenue, (iii) the operating cost and (iv) the volume of mail items handled;
(7) of the average utilisation rate of each iPostal Station, as well as the respective numbers of promotional activities conducted and iPostal Stations relocated by the HKP as required under the mechanism due to the unsatisfactory utilisation rates of iPostal Stations, in each of the past three years and this year to date;
(8) according to service requirements of iPostal Stations, recipients should collect their items within 48 hours upon the issue of the SMS collection notice, of the number of recipients who failed to collect their mail items within the time limit in each of the past three years and this year to date, and whether consideration will be given to charging such recipients an additional fee for late collection; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(9) as the HKP indicated in the Government Minute in response to Report No. 82 of the Public Accounts Committee that it had conducted in August 2024 a trial run for pick-up service for EC-GET customers who could fulfil specified requirements, and would evaluate the feasibility of a full-scale roll-out of the pick-up service, of the progress of the evaluation?
Reply:
President,
In face of market changes, Hongkong Post (HKP) has all along proactively sought to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, which includes adjusting its operational model and workflows, optimising infrastructure, streamlining manpower, and leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and reduce operating costs. On staffing, in light of fluctuations in mail volume, the HKP closely reviews changes in workloads of all grades to flexibly redeploy and optimise staff allocation. It also recruits contract staff as required to handle time-limited, seasonal or market-volatility-related tasks, ensuring that staffing arrangements could meet operational and business development needs.
In response to the questions raised by the Hon Chau Siu-chung, the reply is as follows:
(1) and (2) The establishment and strength for the Postman, Postal Officer, and Controller of Posts grades from 2023-24 to 2026-27 (up to the end-May 2026) are tabulated as follows:
| Grade | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | ||||
| (figure as of March 31, 2024) | (figure as of March 31, 2025) | (figure as of March 31, 2026) | (figure as of May 31, 2026) | |||||
| Establishment | Strength | Establishment | Strength | Establishment | Strength | Establishment | Strength | |
| Postman (Note 1) | 2 592 | 2 508 | 2 517 | 2 381 | 2 500 | 2 270 | 2 386 | 2 246 |
| Postal Officer (Note 2) | 1 484 | 1 409 | 1 471 | 1 393 | 1 443 | 1 329 | 1 438 | 1 321 |
| Controller of Posts (Note 3) | 136 | 110 | 135 | 114 | 132 | 117 | 132 | 116 |
In the past three financial years, adjustments to the establishment of various grades of the HKP have reflected the number of posts reduced due to various cost-saving measures, including the five-day mail delivery and the consolidation of delivery beats etc. The HKP will continue to optimise manpower allocation in accordance with the changes in mail volume and operational situations, and flexibly deploy staff to ensure effective use of resources.
Additionally, from 2023-24 to 2026-27 (up to the end-May 2026), 6 705 applicants applied and 113 of them were appointed to the Postman grade, 5 599 applicants applied and 37 of them were appointed to the Postal Officer grade, and 6 530 applicants applied and 20 of them were appointed to the Controller of Posts grade of the HKP. As the HKP has all along adjusted its manpower plan as needed, it does not set annual recruitment target for each grade.
(3) The number of non-civil service contract (NCSC) staff and post-retirement service contract (PRSC) staff from 2023-24 to 2026-27 (up to the end-May 2026) are tabulated as follows:
| 2023-24 (figure as of March 31, 2024) |
2024-25 (figure as of March 31, 2025) |
2025-26 (figure as of March 31, 2026) |
2026-27 (figure as of May 31, 2026) |
|
| I. NCSC staff (Note 4) | ||||
| No. of managerial staff | 83 | 75 | 74 | 72 |
| No. of non-managerial staff | 1 218 | 1 107 | 954 | 944 |
| Total | 1 301 | 1 182 | 1 028 | 1 016 |
| II. PRSC staff | ||||
| No. of managerial staff | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| No. of non-managerial staff | 40 | 4 | 50 | 69 |
| Total | 47 | 9 | 51 | 70 |
(4) Since 2006, the HKP has started adjusting its internal staffing arrangements and, without affecting operations, arranged for staff posted to the headquarters and backend staff providing support services to adopt the work arrangement of five-day week. In 2022, the work arrangement of five-day week was extended to some frontline teams. Currently, about 70 per cent of the staff members are working under the work arrangement of five-day week. To ensure that the standard and efficiency of public services are not affected and to maintain essential postal services on Saturdays, such as counter services and hotline inquiries etc, 30 per cent of the staff members still maintain a non-five-day week arrangement. The HKP has been actively optimising staffing arrangements, including planning to further implement the work arrangement of five-day week to mainly cover some of the posts involving clerical tasks in the frontline teams. The HKP will also continue to explore the feasibility of extending the work arrangement of five-day week taking into account the needs of public postal services and operations.
(5) The information on private properties rented by the HKP for use as office premises (Note 5) from 2023-24 to 2026-27 (up to the end-May 2026) are tabulated as follows:
| 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 (as of May 31, 2026) |
|
| No. of office premises rented from private properties | 63 | 62 | 61 | 61 |
| Percentage of total office premises | 47% | 47% | 46% | 46% |
| Annual rent ($ million) |
92 | 83 | 79 | 13 |
| Total floor area (thousand square feet) | 143 | 133 | 126 | 126 |
| Average rent ($/square feet) |
53 | 52 | 52 | 52 |
(6) Due to the rapid changes in the global economic environment in recent years, the continuous escalation of geopolitical situation, the rise of protectionism, and the intense competition in the electronic commerce (e-commerce) logistics industry, the HKP's revenue from e-commerce business in the past three years is lower than originally expected by more than 30 per cent. The actual/anticipated revenue and mail volume from the HKP's e-commerce business in the past three financial years and the current year are tabulated as follows:
| 2023-24 (Actual) |
2024-25 (Actual) |
2025-26 (Subject to audit) |
2026-27 (Anticipated) |
|
| Revenue from e-commerce business ($ million) |
1,013 | 664 | 590 | 730 |
| Mail volume (million items) |
32.8 | 10.9 (Note 6) | 13.4 | 1.4 |
In terms of operating costs, apart from the related conveyance costs and terminal dues, the existing manpower and facilities of the HKP have been deployed to handle e-commerce mail in additional to the universal postal services. Hence, it is difficult to quantify the operating cost of e-commerce business separately.
(7) The average utilisation rates of all iPostal Stations from 2023-24 to 2026-27 (up to the end-May 2026) are tabulated as follows:
| Average utilisation rate | Number of iPostal Stations | |||
| 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 (up to May 31, 2026) |
|
| 80% or higher | 15 | 27 | 63 | 91 |
| 50% or higher and less than 80% | 100 | 105 | 91 | 72 |
| 20% or higher and less than 50% | 34 | 29 | 15 | 6 |
| Less than 20% | 11 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 160 | 165 | 169 | 169 |
The HKP has been closely monitoring the usage of iPostal Stations as well as conducting timely promotional activities and adjusting related operational arrangements. In the past three financial years, arrangements were made to relocate three iPostal Stations and adjust the number of locker columns of 12 iPostal Stations having regard to the usage.
(8) The number of mail items not collected by recipients within the prescribed time limit at iPostal Stations from 2023 to 2026 (up to the end-May 2026) are tabulated as follows:
| Year | Overdue uncollected mail volume (item) | Percentage of total mail item |
| 2023 | 13 000 | 2% |
| 2024 | 15 000 | 2% |
| 2025 | 22 000 | 2% |
| 2026 (up to May 31, 2026) | 10 000 | 2% |
According to past statistics, about 98 per cent of the mail items were collected within the 48-hour time limit, and the proportion of overdue uncollected mail items was very low, indicating that the current collection time limit basically meets public demand. At present, the HKP has no plan to impose additional charges on recipients who collect items from iPostal Stations beyond the time limit.
(9) EC-GET is an affordable and economical local mailing solution designed to provide diversified services. The HKP launched a pilot programme for the EC-GET door-to-door pickup service in August 2024 and subsequently completed the assessment on the pilot programme. After carefully balancing cost-effectiveness, market demand, and public resource utilisation etc, the HKP currently has no plan to regularise the door-to-door pickup service for EC-GET.
The HKP will continue to closely monitor the market trends of e-commerce and flexibly adjust the operational strategies in light of market changes. In the future, the HKP will continue to offer diversified e-commerce solutions to local merchants, including the promotion of e-Express+, which offers scheduled door-to-door pickup service for cross-border e-commerce customers reaching certain delivery volumes. While ensuring prudent use of resources, it also offers cost-effective logistics solutions to merchants, thereby further expanding the HKP's related business.
Notes:
(1) The Postman grade includes Senior Postman and Postman.
(2) The Postal Officer grade includes Superintendent of Posts, Senior Postal Officer and Postal Officer.
(3) The Controller of Posts grade includes Postmaster General, Deputy Postmaster General, Assistant Postmaster General, Chief Controller of Posts, Senior Controller of Posts, Controller of Posts, Assistant Controller of Posts I, and Assistant Controller of Posts II.
(4) The HKP would adjust the number of NCSC positions regularly and decide whether to renew contracts with individual NCSC staff according to operational requirements.
(5) The office premises rented from private properties are mainly post offices as well as a few delivery offices, mail processing centre and office.
(6) A sharp decline in mail volume recorded in 2024-25 was mainly due to external factors such as geopolitical situation and the tightening of inbound mail regulations in different places arising from the rise of protectionism.
Ends/Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Issued at HKT 16:11
Issued at HKT 16:11
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