Lietuvos paštas
 | |
| Government-linked company | |
| Founded | November 16, 1918 |
| Headquarters | Vilnius, Lithuania |
Key people | Lina Minderienė (CEO) |
| Services | Letter post, parcel service, EMS, delivery |
| Website |
www |
Lietuvos paštas is the company responsible for postal service in Lithuania. In 2010 Lithuanian Post consisted of 870 access points: 735 fixed post offices and 135 service locations and mobile post offices.
History
On 11 July, 1562 the Grand Duke of Lithuania and king of Poland Sigismund Augustus commissioned Christopher Taxis to organise a regular mail transport route Vilnius-Krakow-Vienna-Venice. At that time, letters between Krakow and Vilnius were delivered in 7 days.
The importance of post increased after 1583 when the Polish King Stefan Batory enforced standardised mail charges, thus providing universal access to mail. At that time, mail began to be delivered on a regular basis.
On November 16, 1918, the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance, Trade and Industry minister Martin Yčas signed a decree establishing a Lithuanian postal board. This date is considered the official founding day of Lithuanian postal history and is celebrated as national post day.
World War II destroyed Lithuanian international relations ending both postal and rail transport. Lithuanian Post activity became completely dependent on Moscow.
On October 7, 1990 mail came into circulation once again with the release of the first independent Lithuanian stamp series - "Angel". On December 17, 1991 Lithuania decided to reorganise the management structure of national communications, separating postal and electrical connections and forming two separate state enterprises: Lithuanian Post and Lietuvos Telekomas acting as the public telephony operator. In 2006 the company was reorganised into a joint stock company.