Dear Comrades,
GUWAHATI: With the advent of the internet and people preferring to use e-mail over letters and postcards, there has been a considerable fall in the sale of such items issued by the postal department.
Gone are the days when one would rush to the nearest post office, purchase a blue inland letter or a simple postcard and write to their near and dear ones living far away. To bridge the gap in the fall in sale the postal department is now banking on business dispatches like telephone bills, passport deliveries, media posts, logistic posts and other services.
"Time has become a major factor for the people and with the internet providing faster services majority of the people doesn't use inland letters or post cards. The sale of inland letters has come down close to 40 per cent. Now the post is mostly used for official business dispatches of the BSNL, Passport Seva Kendra, Railway Recruitment Board, government departments, educational institutions and others," said KM Nath, senior post-master.
It is not just the sale of inland letters and postcards has gone down, the system of cash-on-delivery offered by some online shopping portals and the usage of private delivery services for transportation of goods is also impacting the postal service.
"The impact will be there. The postal department will soon be starting a cash-on-delivery system. It will be a pilot project and is in the initial phase. The department is more reliable and we have more in-depth networking system. Besides, we can operate better in the rural areas," said Himangshu Athpuria, dealing assistant.
The usage of the postal service is more in the rural areas where the penetration of technology is less and literacy rate is low, as compared to urban areas. There are 80 sub-post offices, 221 branch post offices and two head offices in Kamrup rural and Kamrup districts. There are nine postal divisions in the Assam circle plus two railway mail services divisions.
Times of India
