Czech Post Office reduces service, asks people not to order goods from China

The Czech Post Office remains open but has limited its service and operating hours. The one piece of good news is that they will deliver face masks for free, but only under certain conditions.

First the Post Office (Česká pošta) first wants to clear up a misunderstanding. They are not giving free face masks to the public, and please don’t go your local post office looking for a free mask. They don’t have them, and that makes it an unnecessary trip.

If you have made face masks or have extra ones, the Post Office will deliver them for free. The condition is that they are being donated, and not sold. The Post Office will not take cash on delivery for them.

Hours at the Post Office are limited. All branches in the Czech Republic close at 4 pm at the latest. Partner operators received a recommendation to implement the same measure.

From March 21 until further notice, the Post Office will cancel the weekend operation of all branches. Partner operators received a recommendation to implement the same measure.

All branches of the Post Office will be open only to citizens 65 and older from 10 am to noon.

“We ask all other clients to respect these decisions of the Post Office Crisis Staff,” the Post Office said.

“We ask the public to visit the Post Office branches only in the most urgent cases and to limit shopping in e-shops to the things that are urgent needs. At the same time, we ask Post Office clients to monitor the current state of the public hours at the entrance of the branch and in the branch information system,” they added.

China is among the countries that the Post Office expects to have interrupted service with.

“Selected countries cease to accept shipments from other countries due to restrictions on international transport and its lack of capacity. We urge citizens not to buy goods in foreign e-shops in the following countries or send anything from these countries to other recipients,” the Post Office said, adding that shipments were soon also unlikely to leave those countries.

The countries are China, Israel, Iran, South Korea, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Cyprus and Georgia. They also ask people not to send packages to these countries, as they cannot guarantee they will be accepted.

“Due to the current development of the situation, we do not exclude the extension of the list of countries where the Czech Post does not deliver and from which shipments cannot come,” they added.

Also deliveries cannot be guaranteed to the closed-off areas in the Olomouc region: Chudobin, Slavetin, Unicov and Litovel. Pensions are being delivered with police assistance.

The Post Office has also suspended sales of lottery tickets. These can still be bought at news agents, gas stations or other outlets. The lotteries will continue, just without the participation of the Post Office. Sales and recharging of SIM cards for phones continues at the Post Office.

As is required by law in all public spaces, customers must wear a face mask or other covering of their mouth and nose.