Most of the mail carriers being dismissed by Itella had their last day of work on Wednesday. The company announced earlier this spring that it was cutting 500 jobs from its mail delivery branch.
The Post and Logistics Union's acting chairman Jarmo Niemi told Yle that tens of thousands of households around the country have been hit by delays in deliveries. Most of the problems have been seen in larger cities.
"Every day tens of thousands of people have not got their mail, as many as 50, 000," said Niemi.
According to Niemi, the problems started after Easter when Itella made changes to delivery routes. The changes, and the delays, he attributes to the company's personnel cuts.
Itella director Anu Punola has confirmed that deliveries have experienced difficulties affecting tens of thousands of customers.
"There is a big change underway and postal carriers have had to learn new routes. That always takes time. 99 percent of households have received their post and received it during this whole period of transition in accordance with the demands of service quality and the requirements of the law," explained Punola.