Q-Post unveils cheap and fast service
Q-POST yesterday announced the formal launch of its new fast delivery service, GulfEx. The new facility would ensure mails and parcels dispatched to the five GCC states are delivered the very next day.
At a press meet held at the General Post Office’s philately bureau, Q-Post Chairman Ali Mohamed al-Ali said the latest facility would ensure that parcels up to 30kg in weight are delivered anywhere in the GCC within 24 hours of posting.
To ensure prompt delivery of parcels, Q-Post has tied up with the speed post services of government-run postal corporations in other GCC States, al-Ali said. Arrangements with various airline companies have also been worked out.
“To destinations in the UAE, services of four more airlines other than Qatar Airways would be availed of,” al-Ali said.
It is the cheapest facility available in the market, al-Ali pointed out. A packet weighing up to 30kg can be sent to anywhere in the GCC for only QR50, he said. “Most other courier firms charge between QR100 and QR150 for the same facility as of now,” al-Ali said.
In case, the parcel doesn’t reach the intended destination the very next day, Q-Post will refund the QR50 parcel charge and also offer to despatch another parcel free of cost for the customer, he said.
The enormous increase in parcel traffic to and from Qatar in recent years was one of the reasons which prompted the corporation to introduce a quick delivery service like GulfEx, he said.
Al-Ali indicated that at a later date the facility would be extended to most other countries of the Middle East coming under the Arab Postal Union (APU).
“If all goes well, many more countries beyond the Middle East region would be covered by the service,” he said.
As part of strengthening the parcel and courier sector, the GCC postal corporations would jointly introduce parcel-carrying aircraft shortly.
“It would be on the lines of some global courier firms who already have aircraft for their operations,” he said.
“By introducing such facilities, the region’s government-run postal companies would like to convey a message to others that they are prepared to take up major challenges in the highly competitive postal field,” al-Ali said. It would also underscore that government-run postal corporations are capable of delivering excellent, fast and efficient services to customers.
The new facility will currently be available only at the General Post Office and the Teyseer
Post office on Airport road.
Al-Ali said it would be extended to other post offices in different phases, depending on the response.
Asked if Q-Post staff would collect the parcels from offices/homes, al-Ali said “for the time being, the customer needs to go to one of the two offices to avail of the service”.
He, however, did not totally rule out the possibility of Q-Post delivery staff collecting parcels from the sender’s location at a later date.
Al-Ali added that while postal corporations in the various GCC countries would currently ensure delivery of parcels sent through GulfEx, “at a later stage there is a possibility that Q-Post itself would directly enter the market there. This could be possible because of the latest directives of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which allow competition in every market it governs,” he said.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) guidelines too have specifically highlighted the necessity of competition in postal markets in order to ensure better services to customers, al-Ali said.
Competition is the order of the day in any postal market and failure to provide quality services would badly hit businesses of any corporation, he said.
Besides al-Ali, Mumtaz Post chief Jassim al-Diyab and Q-Post Director of Postal Operations Sheikh Abdul Azeez bin Mohamed al-Thani were present at the press conference.
