Postverk Føroya
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| Founded | 1976 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Tórshavn, Faroe Islands |
| Products | |
| Revenue | ? |
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Number of employees
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380 |
| Website | posta.fo |
Posta is the postal service of the Faroe Islands and was founded on 1 April 1976 under the Home Rule of the Faroe Islands. On 16 December 2005, it became a public under the name P/F Postverk Føroya (retroactive from 1 January 2005).
About 290 clerks work for Posta. There are 34 post offices, and 90 postal carriers supporting the country's 17,000 households and 48,000 inhabitants.
The Faroese name Postverk Føroya uses the genitive form of the country's name Føroyar (Faroes), thus Føroya without the final r. The name means literally "Postal works of the Faroes", while the word for post or mail is postur. In 2010 Postverk Føroya changed name to Posta.
Many synonyms are officially allowed for the Faroese post:
Before regular boat service was established between the islands, a special transport system was required to enable people from the different islands to exchange messages. This system was called Skjúts. It involved a Skjútsskaffari, or agent, being appointed in every village with the duty of organising a crew to transport people, letters or parcels from one village to another.
The Skjúts system was actually introduced in around the mid-1860s, with the first Skjúts Act coming into force in 1865. Skjúts charges were laid down by the Løgting, the Faroese Representative Council, for 5 years at a time. There were three types of Skjúts:
The charges for Skjúts varied, with official being the cheapest and Private the most expensive. There was no charge for Skjúts prior to 1865. All healthy males of between 15 and 50 years of age were liable for Skjúts, i.e. they could not refuse without incurring a fine. It was never an easy task to transport mail from one island to another across perilous waters where there were often powerful currents.
Peter S. Johannesen, who was one of the first post carriers, tells of a letter delivery from the days of Skjúts. The letter, which had to go from Tórshavn to Hvalba on Suðuroy, was marked K.T. (i.e., Kongelig Tjeneste – On His Majesty's Service) and bore the endorsement Uopholdelig Befordring (For Immediate Delivery): i.e. it had to be dispatched as soon as the weather permitted.
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