在大多数经济与合作发展组织国家(即Organization ofEconomy and cooperation Development),函件业务量增长缓慢,甚至出现减少的现象。这使得各邮政单位承受着巨大的压力,不得不寻找新的方法以降低运营成本。在欧共体内部,邮政业的竞争非常激烈,而且,电子通讯的方式取代一类邮件(first class mail)的趋势也越来越明显,这使邮政企业面临的局势更加严峻。 In most OECD countries (ie, Organization of Economy and Cooperation Development), the volume of mail traffic has been slow to grow, even decreasing. This put tremendous pressure on the postal units and forced them to find new ways to reduce operating costs. Within the EC, competition in the postal industry is fierce and there is a growing tendency for e-mail to replace first-class mail, further complicating the postal business.