Changing face of India Post

Changing face of India Post

Anila Backer

           

In an era when personal letters are becoming history, India Post is introducing new technologies for the survival of services. Though the number of personal letters is reducing significantly, there is a considerable increase in the other mails like speed posts, registered posts, including magazines. This change from service sector to commercialization is not only due to the influence of electronic media dominating the world, but also to compensate the loss of revenue from ordinary letter mails.

            Despite the traditional postal services, India Post now offers services like e-post, business post, logistics post, speed post with online tracking and financial services including savings bank, e-money order, e-payment, instant money order,money order vidhesh and international money transfer. Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Pension Scheme, New Pension Scheme and other insurance policies are also handled by India Post.

            Another vital introduction is the retail selling of the application forms of professional courses and UPSC appointments, gold coins and air/train e-tickets through the post offices. The introduction of the pictorial ‘meghdoot’ post cards with some space for advertisements is another achievement of the department.

     The e-post service helps in the speedy delivery of letters, and the direct mail for mass reach and distribution. The logistics post for sending large consignments will be taken by the department staff from the addressee. The business post also offfers pre-mailing services like printing, addressing, folding, inserting, enveloping, sealing, franking and mailing. These are the new major initiatives carried out by the postal department recently.

            The Indian postal department has come out with novel services to regain their lost customers. 

                                                                                                                                                       

Don’t wait, manufacture yourself!

Don’t wait, manufacture yourself!

Anila Backer A P

           

Are you in need of inland letter cards in large scale? Why wait? Make it yourself!

           

            As the postal department has reduced the production of inland letter cards, the private agencies started to produce it. There is a provision for private manufacturing of inland letter cards which insists specific dimensions and lighter shades and they can be sent by post if suitably folded and closed on all sides by gumming and affixing a stamp of Rs. 2.50. The inland letter card is sold at Rs.2.50, but its production cost is Rs. 7, a loss to the India Post. The heavy loss has led to the India Post and that led to its decreased production and now they are getting away from service sector for their survival. This private manufacturing has  proved beneficial to the department not only in reducing the loss but also compensating it by promoting the selling of stamps.

            The financial organizations like the Kerala State Financial Enterprises Limited and the cooperative banks rely on private cards as they need them in bulk and have started producing them. Even though there are alternative mailing techniques, these financial organizations rely mainly on inland cards as it is the cheapest one. It costs less than Rs. 5 including the production expenditure and they require thousands of them per month to send intimation letters to the subscribers. The employees at the KSFE opine that the cards manufactured by them made their jobs relatively easier. Content to be sent is printed at the time of manufacturing  whereas that of India Post requires it to  be printed later. The KSFE and the Cooperative banks being computerized, they produce it from their own printers which reduce the production charge also.

            It seems that within a short period, all the traditional postal services will be history and even the concept of post office may differ as the world as a whole is getting computerized and commercialized nowadays.