Israel Post is the trading name of the Israel Postal Company (Hebrew: דואר ישראל, romanized: Do'ar Yisra'el), formerly called the Israel Postal Authority, which is a government-owned corporation that provides postal services in Israel.
Israel Post has 5,000 employees, including 1,650 mail delivery staff and 2,000 postal clerks manning 700 post office branches around the country. It has a network of 4,262 mail boxes and 1,000 mail trucks. Some 2.5 million postal items are sorted every day.
The Israel Postal Company has its roots in the postal system from the British Mandate period (1920-1948). In 1948, after the establishment of the State of Israel, the Ministry of Transportation was given responsibility for the provision of postal services in the country. In 1951, the Ministry of Postal Services was established, which later became the Ministry of Communications. Close to the British model, the services included delivery of letters, parcels, and telegrams, as well as telephone services. The Israeli Postal Bank opened in 1951. The Israel Postal Authority was created in 1986.
Postal services in Israel have historically operated at a loss. In 2002, the loss was NIS 150 million, and in 2003 it was NIS 200 million. In 2002, in the wake of these losses, political scandals and technological developments in communications, major reforms were implemented. A new government company, the Israel Postal Company Ltd., was founded and went into operation in March 2006. Since 2007, the financial situation has improved, and Israel Post is now making a small profit.
In June 2013, Israel Post signed an agreement to deploy the latest version of Escher’s Group Riposte retail software, a peer-to-peer network technology.
In October 2014, Israel Post announced that it would be laying off 1,200 employees and dropping mail delivery to twice a week. Additionally, several branches were closed, while hours of those branches which remained were extended, to reduce waiting times. In March 2015, Israel Post added the ability to make appointments online or via an app, in another effort to reduce waiting times.