Indian Post makes a loss of over Rs 6000 crores per year.
Their traditional sources of business have dried up and their new sources of business are not being developed fast enough. With the advent of email, mobile phones (SMS and and Internet banking the use of post for sending letters has declined but the traffic for parcels has increased tremendously.
This situation was faced by developed nations too and they quickly created means to deepen the market for parcel post. This was done using software called Endicia which makes every internet connected computer and printer into a post office. United States Postal Service has implemented Endicia's solutions.
What does Endicia do ?
It helps the Customer of the Postal Department weigh the parcel and print a poster label. This label is the equivalent of the postal stamp with details of sender and receiver and postal fees. The amount is debited from the Customer's account.
The postal department gets details of the package and these are in turn sent to the hand held device of postman who icks up the package on his way to deliver the packages. This increases the postman's effectiveness by making his trips a two way exercise.
Essentially like every net banking user has become a bank teller, every person who opens an account becomes a new post office.
The Indian Government needs to do the same. They could write this software themselves or buy it from established agencies such as Endicia. This is a make or buy decision that is best left to techno-commerical experts.
Indian Post covers all postal pin codes where private couriers cover only a fraction of the Pincodes. If these steps are taken in addition to cost management, modernization and widening and deepening of their existing services etc their losses will come down but more importantly they will provide a very good boost for the SME sector, artisans from interior areas.
This will help Indian post undercut couriers and become very competitive.
If this is implemented, far from being a fuddy duddy sector, Indian Post will start having hot growth prospects like Internet retailers like Flipkart or Jabong.
Their traditional sources of business have dried up and their new sources of business are not being developed fast enough. With the advent of email, mobile phones (SMS and and Internet banking the use of post for sending letters has declined but the traffic for parcels has increased tremendously.
This situation was faced by developed nations too and they quickly created means to deepen the market for parcel post. This was done using software called Endicia which makes every internet connected computer and printer into a post office. United States Postal Service has implemented Endicia's solutions.
What does Endicia do ?
It helps the Customer of the Postal Department weigh the parcel and print a poster label. This label is the equivalent of the postal stamp with details of sender and receiver and postal fees. The amount is debited from the Customer's account.
The postal department gets details of the package and these are in turn sent to the hand held device of postman who icks up the package on his way to deliver the packages. This increases the postman's effectiveness by making his trips a two way exercise.
Essentially like every net banking user has become a bank teller, every person who opens an account becomes a new post office.
The Indian Government needs to do the same. They could write this software themselves or buy it from established agencies such as Endicia. This is a make or buy decision that is best left to techno-commerical experts.
Indian Post covers all postal pin codes where private couriers cover only a fraction of the Pincodes. If these steps are taken in addition to cost management, modernization and widening and deepening of their existing services etc their losses will come down but more importantly they will provide a very good boost for the SME sector, artisans from interior areas.
This will help Indian post undercut couriers and become very competitive.
If this is implemented, far from being a fuddy duddy sector, Indian Post will start having hot growth prospects like Internet retailers like Flipkart or Jabong.
Indian Postal Service serves one very important function now and that is difficult to manage profitably. Its biggest operation is in Money Orders. As long as rural Indian situation remains cut off from some kind of banking, this is unlikely to change. Speed Post, Registered Post etc are being used only where it is legal proof. Otherwish, Indian Posts has no reason to exist at all.
ReplyDeleteFiring such a large labour force is not an option. So this may be the best option. USPS also went through a phase like this but thye figured that Internet shopping needs huge amounts of parcel delivery. Indian Post is leaving lot of money on the table by shutting down speed post at 3pm. Extended hours, more counters, home pick up etc can increase their business substantially. They are also cheaper than couriers and can increase their prices too.
DeleteOther important activities like voter registration can also be given to them.
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