KARACHI: Post offices efficiently handling Eid load
By Bahzad Alam Khan
KARACHI, Nov 10: At least 170 post offices in the city are handling over 300,000 articles on a daily basis ahead of Eid.
Sources in the Pakistan Post Office told Dawn on Wednesday that the volume of mail had almost doubled because of Eid. "Post offices generally handle 150,000 or thereabouts articles on a daily basis. Eid-related mail will continue to pour in even after the religious festival. All the post offices have been authorized to double their stocks of stamps and related stationery," they said.
However, they recalled, the Pakistan Post Office used to handle twice as much Eid-related mail in the past. "The trend of sending Eid cards has not weakened, but people have been lured away by other media. For instance, a large number of urban dwellers send Internet Eid cards. They are almost free and extremely beautiful. Quite a few people exchange Eid greetings by SMS messages," they said.
They said that Eid cards sent by ordinary mail reached their destinations within four days whereas those sent by registered mail travelled for at least five days. "We have devised a special package to counter the onslaught of courier companies. Our local express service delivers citywide mail within 24 hours for Rs10. Similarly our urgent mail service delivers inter-city mail within 24 hours for Rs17," they said.
The sources in the postal department said circulation of money within the country also increased ahead of Eid. "Salaried people working in different cities of the country send home money so that their families could make arrangements for Eid. The Pakistan Post Office also handles fax money orders, ordinary money orders and urgent money orders. Urgent money orders are delivered within 48 hours; fax money orders are delivered on the same day. We have an edge over banks. People have to come to bank to obtain money whereas we deliver money orders to our clients' doorsteps," they said.
The sources explained that apart from delivery of money orders, the Pakistan Post Office also handled transfer of remittances. "Pakistan received Rs141.5 million in foreign exchange on account of terminal dues during July-March 2003-04 and paid Rs5.9 million in foreign exchange to other foreign administration during this period. Hence the net earning of the Pakistan Post Office in foreign exchange during this period was Rs135.6 million. Besides, during July-March 2003-04 Pakistan received Rs12.6 million as remittances through the postal department. It has also introduced a money transfer system in collaboration with Western Union in all the major GPOs across Pakistan. On account of the money transfer project, the Pakistan Post Office received an amount of $34 million during July-March 2003-04," they said.
