Letter boxes are emptier as Internet gains popularity (UAE)

Growing use of the Internet and the falling cost of
telephone calls and faxes were behind a drop in international mail
handled by post offices throughout the UAE last year. Although the volume of mail distributed within the UAE shot up by 33
per cent, over three million fewer letters were sent to people
living in the UAE from overseas. The recently-released report of the General Postal Authority (GPA)
shows that incoming overseas mail fell from 69,538,729 in 1999 to
66,010,672 last year, a drop of five per cent. In contrast the number of letters posted and distributed within the
UAE rose from 73,402,684 in 1999 to 97,563,962 last year, reflecting
the increased use of mass mailing by companies to promote their
services and products. According to Salim Al Sohaya, Deputy Director General of the General
Postal Authority, the drop in international mail was mainly due to
"the continued progress in communications and the number of expats
utilising these facilities." He added: "If communication and telephone rates keep getting cheaper
and there is a lot more development in this sector, then yes, it
will affect how people utilise the post office." Al Sohaya's comments were echoed by individuals and companies which
Gulf News questioned about what methods they use to communicate with
customers and each other. Mathew Mathai, manager of corporate communications for Sony Gulf,
said, "I've been here nine years. Earlier, we would use the fax. Now
this has been converted to e-mail. All that we'd normally send via
fax, we now send by e-mail. "Almost all our business partners as well as Sony offices worldwide
are on the net, so faxing has decreased. And, frankly, we don't use
much regular mail either. We use courier services for documents that
require physical delivery to our subsidiaries and business partners.
It is quicker." Diyaa Zebian, Middle East business development manager for
eSolutions BEA, concurred. "We depend 100 per cent on e-mail for
business-related communication. We use courier services for packages
or documents. It's faster, more reliable. We hardly use regular mail
– maybe for mass marketing locally, when we are not concerned with
reliability and speed is not an issue." Meanwhile, Hussain Al Mahmoudi, marketing and communications manager
for Dubai Internet City, believes the Internet has had a fundamental
impact on postal services. "Definitely the Internet has played a
major role in minimising the number of people using traditional
methods of communication, i.e. post. "The Internet allows for more options. You can send pictures,
animation, data and video footage. If the other party has the
necessary equipment, you can even see each other and talk live. "For people all over the world, the Internet is a very economical
way of communication. It is a faster tool and offers many more
options and features." But Al Mahmoudi does not believe the Internet will eventually make
postal services redundant because it is too impersonal. "You will always have people who do not have access to the Internet
for one reason or another, and there will always be people who feel
more comfortable using traditional methods. "It still feels different to receive a card or a hand-written
letter. It's more personal. With the Internet, you do lose the
personal touch. The Internet will not replace traditional post, but
it will minimise its role. This is already happening," he said. In a foreword to the GPA's report, Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, Minister
of Communications and Chairman of the General Postal Authority,
asserts that since it was established in 1985, the GPA has
endeavoured to use up-to-date equipment and technology to provide
the best possible services to the public. "The GPA has developed the existing services and introduced new
services to improve the standard of the postal services. It also
expanded the number of post offices and equipped these new offices
with modern equipment to meet the increased demand on the postal
services and to match the growth and development witnessed by the
country in all social and economic fields," he said. Certainly, the figures contained in the report underline the rapid
growth of postal services. There are now 61 post offices, 201 postal
agencies, 90 private post box shelters, 186,120 private post boxes
and 973 letter deposit boxes; in 1996, these numbers were 56, 147,
69, 119,986, and 835 respectively. However, Hani Bashir, an IT specialist, believes that despite the
expansion of services the demand for traditional postal services has
peaked for one simple reason: the length of time it takes for
letters and parcels to reach their destinations abroad. "I don't care how many new post offices they build or how much more
fancy new equipment they get, the whole snail-mail thing is
passé unless you have documents to send, and even those are
best sent by courier. "E-mail is efficient – you just know your message has gotten
through. Most of my friends are abroad and sending hard copy letters
the old-fashioned way would take two weeks." But GPA Director-General Abdullah Ibrahim Al Daboos is confident
that the GPA can meet the challenges posed by the electronic
revolution. He believes the postal authority can adapt to the
changes that are taking place in how people communicate. He cites the Rasel Service, which has proved popular by allowing
individuals and companies to conduct dealings with governmental
departments at a reasonable fee and with less time and effort, as an
example of a new generation of services which the GPA can provide. It was started in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce
and Industry for the renewal of membership and private commercial
licences. The GPA receives the applications from the public and
returns them to the applicants after finalising the procedures. Better and more efficient use of technology will also help to keep
costs down and provide more efficient and effective services in the
future, Al Daboos believes.
Copyright 2001 Al Nisr Publishing LLC.
Source: World Reporter (Trade Mark).GULF NEWS, 07th August 2001