For years, European logistics were built around a predictable baseline: sorting letters and parcels, managing steady volumes, and absorbing incremental market shifts. But traditional delivery demand is contracting, and legacy postal operators face a new challenge – evolve alongside modern e-commerce or accept falling behind.
Success relies on what happens after the customer clicks ‘buy’. Marketplaces can bring together millions of consumers and sellers. But turning that demand into a seamless customer experience requires something less visible: a fulfilment network that can absorb significant volumes to meet customers wherever they are.
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SubscribeAt Poșta Română, we made a conscious decision to break away from being viewed as a conservative company and transform into a more agile and modern enterprise. Central to that transformation is our strategic partnership with Temu.
Connecting Local Sellers to Global Markets
Every national postal operator carries a heavy fixed cost: maintaining a nationwide physical footprint, from regional sorting hubs to last-mile delivery fleets. The same goes for businesses, as Temu’s latest report, revealed that complexity, cost and connection are preventing small businesses from scaling.
Logistics networks derive their true value from the economic activity they enable. Across Europe, countless small and medium-sized enterprises produce exceptional goods but historically struggle with the distribution challenges required to reach customers beyond their immediate domestic markets.
Our partnership means that, through the marketplace’s Local Seller Program, Romanian businesses can expand their customer base while leveraging an established domestic logistics network to fulfil orders.
For a small business, access to nationwide delivery can be a competitive advantage. Serving customers nationwide without building a proprietary system lowers barriers to growth. As a result, greater capacity and resilience for sellers means that consumers get faster and more reliable delivery.
Maximising Infrastructure and Modernising Fleets
Romania occupies a strategically important position in Central and Eastern Europe. It acts s the backbone of the nation’s economy by strengthening domestic commerce, using national infrastructure and creating space for growth in Europe and beyond.
We operate 41 hubs supported by a sorting capacity of more than 500,000 parcels per day, reaching more than 11 million unique addresses. Parcels flow through established operating centres, where advanced sorting and automation technologies can process approximately 7,000 parcels per hour.
Last-mile distances are reduced with the help of more than 5,000 postal sub-units and approximately 1,500 POS terminals across post offices. Poșta Română’s fleet of more than 1,000 commercial vehicles has grown with 80 new Renault Master vans.
By pairing our upgraded sorting hubs and expanded commercial fleets with a steady stream of e-commerce demand, we ensure that our infrastructure operates at structural capacity. As I often note, Temu helps us have our vehicles operating at 100% capacity, making our logistical activities far more efficient. Vehicles run full, automated sorting lines operate at peak thresholds, and our major infrastructure investments deliver immediate operational returns.
Securing Workforce Stability Through Growth
Operational modernisation is often framed around hardware and software, but its ultimate measure is people. We employ more than 19,000 people, including approximately 10,000 postal workers and couriers, the largest nationwide. As the country’s largest last-mile delivery operation, our network is deeply rooted in local communities.
E-commerce plays an important role in creating and sustaining stable jobs across Romania. Businesses no longer need to be located in major markets to reach customers and grow, which creates opportunities for employment in towns and communities of all sizes. For Poșta Română, growing demand for parcel deliveries is helping offset the decline in traditional letter volumes, supporting a more sustainable model for the future.
This matters because a sustainable business is ultimately about sustainable employment. As one of the country’s largest logistics and last-mile delivery companies, we have employees in communities across virtually every municipality. Securing high-volume e-commerce streams allows us to protect and stabilise thousands of frontline jobs. From facility sorting operators to field couriers, a large e-commerce platform helps save jobs, keep our infrastructure effective across the country, and support the employment situation in communities everywhere.
A Model for European Competitiveness
Global marketplaces provide consumer demand, technology and access to international markets. Local and national logistics providers bring geographical expertise, established delivery networks and relationships with domestic businesses.
For Romania, the opportunity is particularly significant. The country can use its position as a Central and Eastern European logistics hub to connect global e-commerce growth with local enterprise. Romanian sellers that can tap into established delivery networks with trusted logistics partners are better positioned to meet customer expectations while expanding into new markets with confidence – a kind of logistical reach that was once reserved for large retailers.
The parcel may be the visible end product of an online transaction. But behind every successful delivery is a network of partnerships, technology, people and infrastructure.
