India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has reported that Department of Posts’ (DoP) Speed Post service is “better than the services provided by private courier services”.
Read MoreWith the launch of customized protective envelop for Speed Post and Insured Post – a first in the country, India Post has moved a step further in providing customer convenience. “With the introduction of these envelopes, the Department is keen to transform itself as a customer friendly organization” said Mrs Noorjehan, Member (Operations & Marketing), Postal Services Board during the launch of the envelopes here today.
These envelopes are made of an innovative material with product qualities like water, tear, and abrasion-resistance, soft and smooth texture for excellent printability, environment-friendly and light-weight, and with customized tamper-evident features. These offer enhanced security and protection to the contents enclosed. These envelopes will be available to the customers in various Post Offices and Speed Post Centres across the country.
During 2007-08, while the express industry growth is around 20 pct, Speed Post posted an impressive growth of 29.7 pct in terms of revenue and 38% in terms of volumes. During 2007-08, the revenue from Speed Post touched 583 crores, as against Rs.449 crores in the previous year.
Recently, the Department had introduced Speed Post One India One Rate scheme. This is a novel and innovative scheme which provides customer convenience and ease. For articles weighing less than 50 grams, it costs just Rs.25 across the country and this includes service tax components also. For local delivery, it costs just Rs.12. Now, with the introduction of Speed Post envelopes, customers can buy these envelopes and send it across India under One India One Rate scheme. Each Speed Post envelope costs Rs 5.
The postal department is liable to compensate a consumer for not delivering a consignment within the stipulated time as assured under it Speed Post service, the Delhi Consumer Commission has held.
Rejecting the department’s plea that the Indian Post Office Act gives it immunity from paying compensation for any delay in delivering articles, the Commission, presided over by Justice J D Kapoor, said it was liable for any “deficiency in service or negligence”.
“The immunity under the law of any office or of any government authority has nothing to do with the concept of compensation to a consumer due to the negligence of the opposite party (post offices) in not maintaining the standard of service,” Justice Kapoor said.
Allowing the appeal of complainant Yatendra Sharma, the Commission observed in a recent order that the department could be saddled with liability for non-delivery of postal articles within the stipulated time under its special Speed Post scheme.
“Whenever any consumer avails service like Speed Post or courier and if there is any shortcoming or inadequacy in the manner of performance, the service provider can be held guilty for deficiency in service,” it said.
The Commission’s ruling came in response to an appeal by Sharma, a resident of Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh, who sought compensation for the delay in delivering a consignment, sent through Speed Post to Singapore in 2002.
A consumer forum had quashed his complaint on the ground that the postal department was immune under a statute from paying any compensation on this ground.
Read MoreFor the first time in the country, the movement of mail vehicles in Chennai will be monitored with the help of global positioning system.
Announcing this, Indira Krishnakumar, Principal Chief Postmaster-General, Tamil Nadu Circle, told reporters that at present, five vehicles were being monitored on a trial basis. If the arrangement was found successful, it would cover the other vehicles. The department was now operating 99 mail vehicles in the city.
The technology would come in handy for postal authorities as the vehicles had to cover 300 post offices all over Chennai. The GPS application would help the officials analyse the route pattern of the vehicles scientifically and, if necessary, corrective action would be taken. A majority of the vehicles would be covered by the year-end, she said.
A Chennai-based agency had been entrusted with the task of installing the GPS. The agency was working on a software program to suit the requirements of the department, senior officials said.
Noting that the rate for local mail through Speed Post now stood at Rs. 12, Ms. Indira Krishnakumar said that after the reduction of the tariff three months ago, the volume of traffic had increased by 30 per cent. A computerized passenger reservation system would be opened soon at the High Court post office and that at Sriperumpudur.
1 GBP = 81.9061 INR
Read MoreSending Speed Post packets will be easier soon with the Department of Posts planning to start the service of collecting parcels from homes at no extra cost.
“We will set up toll-free call centres in eight cities this year where customers can call and get their packets picked up from their homes,” DoP general manager John Samuel said.
The postman would collect packets from homes and deliver it without taking any extra charges, he said. The call centres would be set up in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad.
DoP would also introduce a system of alerts which will inform customers about the receipt and delivery of Speed Post packets through SMS or e-mail.
Speed Post, which currently has a market share of 27%, expects revenues to go up to Rs550 crore in 2007-08 from Rs449 crore at present, Samuel said.
The monthly traffic from Speed Post exceeded Rs1.4 crore in March 2007.
“With our new measures, the volumes and revenues will definitely go up in future. We are expecting 40-50% increase in our monthly traffic,” Samuel said.
To make Speed Post competitive in the express industry, the government last week reduced the rates for local services by 40% to Rs12 from Rs20 earlier for up to 50 grams, but increased the rates in weight slabs above 50 grams.
Samuel said the Department would also expand its reach to 1,500 cities by the end of this year. It currently has about 5,000 booking offices across 1,200 cities.
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