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| Sunday, 9 October 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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The World Post Day :
Do we require marketing for the post? by R. A. Jayaratna, Chief Post Master(Rtd.), Kandy. Today, the October 9 is the world Post Day. It is celebrated on grand scale by world postal communities. Earlier the world post was governed by several bi-lateral agreements, that varied and confused international mail transactions and made it complicated to operate the service and hampered the development. To secure the post from this state of deterioration, after several painstaking attempts made by individuals and organisations the Treaty of Berne was signed on Friday, october 9, 1874 to do away with these hazardous bi-lateral agreement system by establishing the Universal Postal Union to govern monitor and unify the world post. As a mark of respect for the service rendered by this union, it was decided by the UPU in 1969 to declare the October 9 the World Post Day. Sri Lanka joined the Universal Postal Union as far back as 1878. Our postal service is in existence for over 200 years. During this span of time we were able to provide quite satisfactory service to the nation. Irrespective of their social status the people were generally happy with the age-old methods of mail circulation and other services offered by the department upto 1980s. A letter posted in Colombo took two days to reach Badulla; a telegram sent from Gampola to Kurunegala was delivered in a few hours time; a telephone call booked at Kandy exchange for Ratnapura was given connection with in five hours. Length of time taken for all these services was not a matter to be displeased with by public for the reason that it was a quiet, slack and slow moving environment. They were accustomed to this type of happenings and also knew that they had to depend on the post for there was no alternative. It was sellers' market where the buyer had to accept what is offered. There was no choice. Marketing was 'Greek' to the post. Employees were taught of only rules and regulations pertaining to the duty. The words 'competition', 'customer satisfaction', 'sales promotion', 'quality' etc; were not in their vocabulary. Amidst all these circumstances the post all over the world had a smooth run despite perplexity of two world wars that shattered other world bodies. New dimensions But despite huge success of the post, the environment of the providers of communication services profoundly changed a lot. Now we are in a new era of communication revolution; electronic revolution and information technology revolution. Technological advances in automation and financial transactions and also in the field of electronic commerce, Internet and electronic mail have added a new dimension to the complexity of situation. The spread of information technology and communication networks through new inventions have shrunk the world so that length of time has got to be counted not in days or hours but in seconds. Open economy, globalization, liberalization and modern business techniques have paved the way for tremendous economic growth the world over that led to increase in the volume of business mail amazingly. When you analyze the economic trends, it is clear that Asia Pacific region is poised for a major change in terms of economic growth. Trade has increase substantially in this region in recent past. International couriers as well as telecom companies have focused their attention on the Asia Pacific region. The quantity of age old traditional mail too had shown progress but not significantly. Hand phones, e'mail, SMS, and other modern communication systems may be responsible to a certain extent for this Identifying benefits of handling vast amount of business mail and the growing demand of business community, competitors, taking advantage of modern technological developments and open economy, entered the stage breaking the age old postal monopoly into fragments. Competition from the new providers in the electronic and physical communication market is becoming increasingly fierce and it came from many directions. In the premium market of international Express Mail, couriers have posed a major challenge to the post and today Expedited Mail Service (EMS) accounts far less than 10% of the express market leaving the rest to the couriers. The traditional letter mail business, in spite of the monopoly enjoyed by the post does not indicate any significant development. The business mail which is vast in volume is moving away from the post. Facsimile, hand phones and electronic mail etc; have nearly wiped out telegraph system. The day is not far from when the monopoly is withdrawn totally and the post office is asked to compete with other giants in the communication market. Already multinational courier and telecom companies are vying with one another for expanding their business to Asia and Pacific region. It was at this juncture that the UPU through its famous Seoul Postal Strategy (1994) adopted at Seoul Congress, warned the member countries to; improve domestic postal networks . give postal administrations sufficient management independence and accountability allowing them to adopt a modern management system and commercial approach needed to response to customer needs redefine the limits of monopoly bearing in the mind the need to provide services at affordable prices. continue and expand the modern technologies respond effectively to changing market requirements and customer needs monitor and improve products and services. Marketing In this deplorable situation there is a need to shift postal administrations towards competitive commercial business with ensuring high rate of efficiency and effectiveness through adoption of marketing strategies to capture and extend the postal market. Marketing is an essential component not only for any commercial entities but also for the postal organizations to increase its business because of free market economy, privatization, internationalism, social trends, technological advancement and global competitors. Many postal administrations have adopted marketing strategies in their business very successfully. A classic example of excellence in the postal industry can be had from New Zealand Post. During 1988 it was a losing government department. In 1997 it was recognized as the best company in New Zealand. Another company, M/s International Business Machines (IBM) ranks 21st in the Fortune 500 global companies in 1988. Although its products always may not be at the forefront of technology nor the cheapest, satisfied customers always continue to buy them for their superb customer service. Considering all these developments, Sri Lanka Post took steps, despite financial difficulties, to improve the quality of service and extend the ranger of products and offer customer a value added service blended with quality, speed and reliability. Accordingly it has launched a programme of automating and modernizing its offices and streamlining mail processing and delivery areas to meet current demand. Post Shop, Internet, e'Mail, Facsimile, Speed Post, Telemail and other modern communication technologies are being added into postal market. Subject "Marketing" is included in the curriculum of the Postmasters' Training College. Prime areas Sri Lanka Post can do much more for the benefit of its customers and for upliftment of the service very easily for it has excellent expertise to handle the mail network. It has 23,000 strong work force with immense experience. They handle approximately 1.7 million mail matters a day of which less than 100 are reported missing or erroneously handled. The Post has resource to enlarge its business into new markets. It has a large network which cannot be duplicated by any private industry. It has post offices in every town and most of the villages. Furthermore the post offices are located in prime areas with considerable business potentials. The Sri Lanka Post has a superb management system and officers' transfer scheme and extremely fine cadre system so not a single excess employee is available in any office. The greatest advantage is that the Post has the backing of the government that no competitor can boast of. Now it is left to the top management of the post to take all these invaluable advantages into consideration and transform the Sri Lanka Post into the best communication network" in Asia. |
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