The Deserted Post Offices

Post Offices that once were the helm of all social activities have lost its glory, with the advent and advancement of Information Technology and the subsequent shift in the attitude of the people.  In the bygone days, nearly all dealings of the people hubbed round post offices.  Be it to send a letter to a dear one, or to send an application seeking an employment, or to send greetings… people relied on the post offices regularly.

The authorities, on realizing the massive influence of the post offices, have extended its services to every nook and corner of the country.  As a result, we cannot spot even a single village that lacks a post office.  Additional services like the facility of telegrams and telephone were supplemented later.  Thus, an average post office, because of very careful efforts, has developed into a self-contained unit capable of satisfying all the communication needs of the people. One of the famous works of Jawaharlal Nehru ponder on the letters sent by him to Indira Gandhi.  Such was the influence, the method of posting and receiving letters, the post offices bore on the minds of the people of this country, even though the British implemented the system.  However, today the post offices, at least in the cities are wearing a deserted look.  Only very few people frequent them these days.  The post offices in the villages are also moving out into such a state.

Very Few Takers Today:

Today only the government departments, some lone establishments, and a negligent proportion of the society rely on post offices to satisfy their communication needs.  The Department of Posts and Telegraphs has recognized the gravity of the situation and they have defined it as a ‘decreasing mail-traffic period’.  The common instruments transmitted through the post offices, the letters and telegrams, are showing downward volume trends.  The Public Call Offices, associated with the post offices have only very few users.  Sales of covers, inlands, and stamps also have come down sharply, say the officials.  They attribute the reasons for this reverse tracking with the increase in the rates for sending letters.

However, the root cause could be found as the emergence and wide spreading of modern information technology.  Alternate, cheap, and efficient means of sending messages are available along the length and breadth of the country.  Computers that form the backbone of such information transmission systems have become common and its literacy have increased.  Today a computer is not a luxury.  It is only a simple working tool and its access is easily available to all who crave to use it.  Even the remotest of the villages in the country boast of computer outlets that offer various services at affordable rates.  Internet cafes have become common establishments that one needs to spend around just Rs.15/-per hour to surf the net.

Villainy of Couriers:

The aggravated intrusion of the courier services into the rural sector has also added fuel to the doom day of the postal department.  The sending rates of the courier services are highly competitive and they normally do not stick to the awkward pattern of weighing each item to fix rates.  The service charges fixed by the courier companies are based on simple statistics and therefore the consumers are at the benefiting end.  Whereas at post offices, the letters are charged for individual weights and the charges appear exorbitant for many of the consumers.  The post offices charge Rs.4/- for envelopes weighing below 20 gms for inland transmission.  At the same time, the courier services deliver the envelopes at much reduced rates.  The services are much speedier and bear more reliability. 

There are any numbers of instances with the post offices missing crucial documents even if sent through registered post.  It is because of the massive and poorly inter-connected set-up that the post offices find it difficult to trace lost letters and documents.  The courier services, being relatively small establishments can monitor the passage of documents from each individual point, ensuring its prompt delivery.  Absence of modernized systems to scan and monitor the document path is one of the major drawbacks of the post offices.  Because once a letter is lost or misplaced, it is lost forever.  Nevertheless, it should also be remembered that the post offices are operating a separate wing to deal with such situations and the authorities claim that they are able to recover majority of such lost documents and mails. 

Reduced Hurdles:

In the present day it is very easy for individual consumers to get a domestic telephone connection.  The hurdles associated with receiving a telephone connection have been reduced considerably enabling a significant fraction of the population to get access to the telephone instrument.  In addition, these are also the days of widespread public telephone booths with STD and ISD facility.  Anyone can have log on to a telephone with the minimum effort.  This is the main reason for the decline of the glory of the phone booths attached to the post offices, wherein a person has to carry coins to be connected.  Majority of the public phones fixed at the post offices are based on the obsolete ‘coin-insertion’ technology.  The availability of three mobile telephone service providers in the State is also making the situation worsen.

The Most Modern e-mail:

A sharp decline is also experienced in the number of persons writing overseas mails.  It is very easy for one to give out messages through the e-mail system, as it is very cheap and is very convenient.  There is no need to go after collecting the needed stationery like cover, paper, pen, gum and stamps to write and mail a letter, when one sits in front of a personal computer to key-in the messages.  The only basic tool that is required to mail a letter through the internet is the basic computer literacy coupled with the knowledge of the sender’s mail ID.  Whereas  while posting a letter there is the added labour of writing it at full length and remembering the address without spelling mistakes, as the inclusion or omission of a single alphabet can lead the letter to unknown destinations. Added to this is the physical involvement of locating a post box to post the letter.

However, the authorities it seems have not fully valued the situation, as revealed from the laxity in integrating timely devices to resist competition.  At this instance, it may be noted that the Dept. of Telecommunications has stood with the times and has gone in to rope all up to date gadgets to beat competitors.

Innovations, Need of the Hour:

Even if the state of affairs persists as such, there remains in the minds of at least a few the reminiscences of the good-old days of the postal services.  A time prevailed  when one waited in anxiety to get a reply from the loved one…when one considered the postman to be a relative of the family and when one loved the very presence of the post box….All such memories are forcefully being faded out from the present.  Therefore, it has become imminent for this very personal service to cope up with the time and integrate modernized facilities for sustenance.

End
S Gopakumar

The views published in the article are views of the author and not of the
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