UPU wants universal postal services extended to digital world
THE ONLINE REPORTER 15th October 2001
UPU WANTS UNIVERSAL POSTAL SERVICES EXTENDED TO DIGITAL WORLD
The posts should extend their universal services to the digital arena, according to the Universal Postal Union director general Thomas Leavey.
“It’s a logical extension in the era of the Internet,” Leavey argued. He heads the Berne-based organization of 189 member countries, the primary forum for cooperation between postal services.
The UPU says that since posts are trusted intermediaries, they can extend their traditional role into the digital domain as well.
Leavey defines the complementary universal services as access to Internet and e-mail at a minimum. To overcome the problem of computer access, the UPU is mooting setting up Internet kiosks in post offices and charging users a small fee. “Someone has to pay. In some cases, governments may very well pay,” Leavey said.
The UPU chief warns that if posts don’t find a role for themselves in the digital world, they won’t be able to maintain their physical network. He bristles at suggestions that the posts have been slow to get off the ground on their Internet programs. “You don’t charge forward unless you have a plan,” he claimed.
Leavey conceded that postal organizations haven’t succeeded in making money off their electronic services so far, but that’s no reason for a retreat. He recommends that the posts’ e-services be aimed at reinforcing their core business through e-logistics, e-billing and hybrid mail programs.
