Japan Post Co. will consider selling around 2,500 of its delivery trucks and vans if the government’s earlier decision to revoke its operation permit for the vehicles over improper alcohol checks on drivers is finalized, sources close to the matter said Saturday.
The company hopes to avoid the cost of maintaining the vehicles, which could not be used for its delivery business for five years once the transport ministry finalizes the penalty, possibly by the end of the month, the sources said.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism plans to conduct a hearing with the company in June.
The decision by the ministry earlier in the month to impose the punishment came after the national postal service operator revealed in April that 75 percent of its 3,188 post offices across the country had failed to properly conduct mandatory roll calls to check whether delivery drivers had alcohol in their systems, prompting the ministry to conduct a special audit.
The ministry found that many of the post offices had falsified roll call records.
Japan Post does not plan to cut jobs and will reassign the van and truck drivers to other operations such as delivery services using vehicles unaffected by the administrative action, according to the sources.
It is already contacting rival logistics companies to outsource some of its parcel deliveries.
The company also operates about 32,000 minivehicles and around 83,000 motorcycles.
