SingPost to introduce Saturday package deliveries this weekend
Singapore Post will introduce Saturday deliveries for packages from the weekend, to make the most of growth in online shopping. The company said the new delivery option was part of a slew of measures it is taking to respond to the changing nature of the mail.
As with Posts around the world, SingPost is currently facing declining domestic letter volumes and growth in its parcel business driven by e-commerce.
Singapore’s national postal service saw its domestic mail volumes fall by 1.3% last year, the second consecutive annual decline, while the local delivery of packages has soared by more than 50% between 2007/08 and 2013/14.
Saturday deliveries, starting 12 July, will keep the company “relevant” to the changing customer demands involved with online shopping, the firm said.
Wolfgang Baier, the SingPost group chief executive, said Saturday deliveries would make it easier for consumers to receive their online purchases at home.
“We know that customers welcome Saturday delivery as they are at home to receive their packages,” he said. “While letters decline, packages become more
important.”
Along with expanded deliveries, SingPost is planning to expand its fleet of three-wheeler vehicles for its mail carriers, to help them carry more parcels.
The second generation three-wheelers are easier to handle and more stable than two-wheeler vehicles, the company said. They also offer bigger pannier boxes, allowing postmen and women to carry more items and reduce the number of return journeys to delivery offices.
Integrated
SingPost said its plans for adapting to customer needs also include taking more of an integrated 24/7 approach to post office services.
The firm will take forward its new post office concept, which includes spacious “auto-lobbies”, which include technology like self-service parcel locker terminals to provide 24/7 access to key services like parcel collections, postage purchases, shipping and payment services.
SingPost said customer feedback from the first of the new concept post offices, introduced in March of this year, has been positive, and as a result it is now rolling out more of the new concept post offices.
The company has also launched a 24-hour call centre to provide assistance for customers.
SingPost has already launched a $100m investment programme for the next few years, which will involve the upgrading and modernisation of its postal infrastructure, including the installation of a more productive mail sorting system.
Dr Baier said: “We will continue to invest as long as we can afford it.”
World Mail Award-winning SingPost turned over S$821.1m ($657m) in its latest financial year, with its S$143.1m ($114.5m USD) profits up 4.8% year-on-year. The company says the decline of its mail volumes and increasing labour costs has been putting its performance under increasing pressure.
