Brunei Post: Email to Relegate Postals to History? No Way
The future of traditional postal services, over the past decade at least, is looking glum due to the increasing popularity of more convenient and quicker methods of communication.
The introduction of mobile phones and more importantly the Internet has had adverse effects on the postal services globally, and Brunei has not been spared.
The increasingly wide use of emails has replaced the conventional method, leading to the belief that has somewhat outlived its usefulness.
During its prime, the Department of Postal Services handled over 22 million mail items annually from 1990 to 1995. The number has significantly lower in the last six years. In 2001 the department handled 13,245,798 pieces of mail, which includes letters, registered mail and postcards. A year later the figure fell to 10,439,846 and dropped to 9,390,420 in 2003, a six-year low.
Assistant Postmaster General Bolhassan Hj Bulat attributed the drop to reasons such as the 1997 Asian economic crisis. "Much of the mail that goes through us consists of business mail and therefore, during an economic downturn, businesses reduce the amount of mail they send," he said.
Another reason for the significant drop was the exodus of foreign workers after the Amedeo Corporation crisis during the late 90's. Bolhassan explained that foreign workers were major users of postal services at the time and their sudden departure had a significant impact on figures. He said other reasons for the drop are the advances in technology such as Short Message Services (SMS) and push e-mail as well as increased competition from private couriers.
There was an increase however to 9,735,119 pieces of mail in 2004, to 11,455,588 in 2005 and 11,524,555 in 2006.
Bolhassan believes however, that postal services will not be deemed obsolete just yet.
"Personally, I do not think that the postal services will stop. As of now, businesses here feel that there is still a need for them to send mail to their customers." "Even with more and more people using e-mail, there are still sections of the community which do not have access to the internet, coupled with the fact the IT literacy here is not high," he added.
Bolhassan explained further: "Letters or mails are still widely used within our bureaucratic systems and this is another reason why I feel that there is still a future for these services," naming water and electricity bills as examples.
In light of this, the department has given greater attention to business mail and is planning to provide its customers with new value-added services. One of these newly added services is hybrid mail, which enables government agencies, corporate clients and other bulk mailers to post monthly notices and bills.
Launched earlier at the opening of the new Mentiri Post office, the hybrid mail service allows an increased volume to be sent to customers, thus saving time and money.
In addition, the department is in the process of installing an automation counter to all 24 post offices throughout the country for the convenience of its clients. Through these automation counters, the public will be able to pay their water, electricity and telephone bills as well as renew their driving licenses and road tax.
According to Bolhassan, the department, under its Client's Charter, promises "J+1", which means delivery by the next working day.
The department states that 70 per cent of deliveries are within the promised duration, which is higher than world average of 65 per cent. According to the Universal Postal Union, the United Nations body that coordinates postal policies worldwide, Brunei's Postal Services Department is ranked 17th globally in terms of performance parameters.
