Management Salary Growth and Courier Envy: Russian Post Rising from Its Knees
Russian Post will receive 200 billion rubles by 2030. Where will this money go and will it be enough to transform the monopolist into a customer-oriented company?
Big changes await Russian Post: according to Mikhail Volkov , head of the state company, investments will amount to 200 billion rubles by 2030. A colossal figure. It is difficult for an ordinary person to comprehend the full scale. If we calculate in average salaries in the country, then to earn such a sum, you will have to work 183,150 years.
A lot can be done with this money. But will it benefit Russian Post?
The head of Russian Post, Mikhail Volkov, promises the company investments of 200 billion rubles by 2030. Photo: Roscongress
The promised 200 billion rubles will be divided into two equal parts: 100 billion rubles will go towards increasing employee salaries, and another 100 billion will go towards modernizing infrastructure.
With salaries, everything is clear: now the income of operators in the branches of the Russian Post is catastrophically low. According to Dream Job, salaries are in the range of 25-44 thousand rubles. On average, it comes to 35 thousand rubles. Pay utility bills, make payments on a modest loan for household needs, buy pasta and potatoes... And what to live on?
Average salaries of postal employees are in the range of 25–44 thousand rubles. Photo: 1MI
It is not surprising that many departments, especially in the provinces, are experiencing a staff shortage. An audit conducted by the Accounts Chamber in the spring of 2025 showed that the number of vacancies increased by 2.2 times between 2020 and 2023.
Postal workers often sincerely try to work well and quickly to make customers happy. But when there is only one person working in the post office, and there is a queue in front of him day after day, then there is no point in talking about any quality of service.
Queues and staff shortages are the reality of Russian Post in 2025. Photo: Roman Pimenov. TASS
However, Mikhail Volkov does not plan to compete on equal terms with other employers. At the very least, Russian Post couriers should hardly expect wages to be equalized with those of couriers of other commercial delivery services.
— We all read the news that during the high season, a courier's salary can reach 300 thousand rubles. In my opinion, this is not quite the right situation.
However, according to SuperJob, even in Moscow, the average salary of couriers is 130 thousand rubles, and not 200-300 thousand. In the regions, the situation is completely different: according to the Console.Pro service, the median salary (half of people receive more than this amount, half - less) in the delivery sector at the end of 2024 was 26,140 rubles.
The number of managers at Russian Post has grown by 65% in five years, and their pay has increased by 48%. Photo: Andrey Lyubimov. RBC/TASS
However, the Accounts Chamber came to the conclusion that over the last five years the staff of the management apparatus of Russian Post has grown by 65%, and the wage fund has swelled by 48%. The company has money for salaries, but not for everyone.
The 100 billion rubles allocated for infrastructure development could, in theory, make Russian Post great again, that is, accessible in remote and hard-to-reach corners of our country. There have been big problems with this lately. Over the period 2020–2023, the number of branches operating on a reduced schedule doubled , and more than 6,000 branches (17% of all) were closed altogether.
Russian Post offices are closing across the country. Photo: 1MI
But there are no guarantees of successful reconstruction and opening of branches. Deputy CEO of the state company Alan Kozonov said that according to the presidential decree, 20 billion rubles a year will need to be allocated for repairing post offices in rural areas alone. Over five years, 100 billion rubles will accumulate.
But the post office management is creaking and mastering much smaller sums. From 2021 to the beginning of 2025, the company received 17 billion rubles from the state to modernize branches. However, almost a third of them were rebuilt with a failure to meet deadlines, the Accounts Chamber notes .
In addition, part of the money will probably go to modernizing the IT infrastructure and updating the vehicle fleet, which are already quite worn out. This was announced by Mikhail Volkov himself in the State Duma.
— About 55% of our transport is already beyond its useful life. As for IT infrastructure, 89% is practically on its last legs.
Russian Post complains about worn-out transport. Photo: 1MI
Plans to spend 200 billion rubles are all well and good, but this money still needs to be found somewhere. JSC Russian Post is deeply mired in multi-billion dollar losses. In 2024, the state-owned company lost 17.1 billion rubles net, meaning that the net loss has doubled in a year. And if nothing changes, then, according to the Accounts Chamber's forecast , it could increase to 87 billion rubles.
Volkov expects to improve the company's financial situation through new laws.
— Russian Post will be able to restore its financial position and begin achieving its strategy goals in 2026 if, in the middle of this year, it is possible to adopt a package of regulatory measures that is currently being considered by the government.
Simply put, the post office management wants to make money by providing services to the population. There have already been such attempts: in 2018, post offices began to turn into stores with food and other essential goods. But they failed to compete with retail chains.
Russian Post still hopes to make money from non-core business. Photo: Lev Fedoseyev. TASS
In Moscow, post office counters have been eliminated , but they still remain in the regions. But non-core businesses are doing well. In Perm Krai, it has gotten to the point where postmen are forced to buy goods at Russian Post offices to meet their quotas.
If the bill with the new rules successfully passes all the authorities, then Russian Post will turn into a pharmacy, that is, it will receive the right to sell medicines (I wonder if only pharmacists will be hired as operators now?), it will stop paying commissions to banks when accepting payments (banks are unlikely to be happy with free work), and will be able to send housing and communal services payments through its own system,
It will also optimize the work schedule of branches (working hours will become even shorter), attract people and organizations to process and deliver parcels from marketplaces (couriers will have even more work), forward mailings electronically (e-mail alone is no longer enough), and gain a monopoly on the delivery of letters, invoices, printed publications, and advertising materials to mailboxes (management companies will be required to pay for delivery of an invoice even to the next building). Marketplaces will also be required to offer, among the delivery options, sending goods by Russian Post to any location in the Russian Federation — because of this, goods may become more expensive .
Marketplaces will be required to include delivery by Russian Post in their services — goods may become more expensive. Photo: 1MI
The post office failed to overcome its competitors using honest market methods - it resorted to administrative resources. How much money will this bring in? It is difficult to say yet. But the Ministry of Digital Development does not expect to collect 100 billion rubles this way, so officials are considering the possibility of sending the post office 30 billion rubles in fines for violating traffic rules.
There are plans, but there is no definite source of funding yet. In such conditions, even the most beautiful strategies can turn to dust.
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