History of the Postal Service

The Postal Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution, but it succeeds arrangements that carried mail between the member organisations of the Network for some years before its establishment. The milestones below record the transition from those arrangements to a single postal service and will be extended as the Service's work develops.

1. Before August 2026

   Mail carried by member organisations

   Before the Service existed, each member organisation of the Network carried its own mail through internal messenger arrangements. Letters between organisations were exchanged at the principal sites by agreement, parcels were sent by private carrier, and there was no common tariff, no postcode scheme and no delivery standard that applied across the Network.

2. 10 August 2026

   The transition period begins

   Member organisations began transferring their messenger staff, mail rooms and delivery records to the interim postal arrangements. The two sorting offices at Central Exchange and Westbrook were brought into use, and the first of 84 post boxes were installed at the principal sites.

3. 24 August 2026

   The postcode scheme adopted

   The Network postcode scheme of six districts and eighteen sectors was adopted for use from establishment. Every delivery point in the Network was assigned a postcode, and member organisations were asked to include postcodes on all correspondence from 7 September 2026.

4. 10 August to 5 September 2026

   Mail handled under interim arrangements

   Throughout the transition period, 186,400 items were collected, sorted and delivered under the interim arrangements: 151,200 letters and 35,200 parcels. Counters were designated at twelve locations and their staff trained in the tariff and the additional services.

5. 6 September 2026

   Postal Service established

   The Postal Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established, with responsibility for the collection, sorting and delivery of mail, for post offices at the principal sites, for the Network postcode scheme and for postal services to member organisations.

6. 6 September 2026

   Official website launched

   The Service launched postal.gov.vin, carrying the register of post offices, the tariff, the delivery standards, guidance on sending mail, and the Service's press releases and official statements.

7. 6 September 2026

   Register, tariff and standards published

   On the day of its establishment the Service published the register of its twelve post offices and counters, the single tariff for letters and parcels, the delivery standards it undertakes to meet, and its first statistical release covering the transition period.

8. 7 September 2026

   Collections and deliveries begin under the single tariff

   The twelve post offices and counters open, the first collections are made from the Service's post boxes, and the interim arrangements of member organisations come to an end.

9. Forthcoming

   Quarterly reporting and parcel lockers

   The first report of performance against the delivery standards, covering the quarter ending 30 September 2026, and the installation of parcel lockers at the principal sites will be announced in the Newsroom.

Announcements are published in the Newsroom. For the Service's present responsibilities, see About the Postal Service; for the figures recorded during the transition period, see Statistics.