Sri-Lanka - MODERNIZING POSTAL SERVICE

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In the hustle and bustle of today's modernity our Postal Department hardly receives any attention and by and large is relegated to the background in this day and age of e-mail and the Internet. But it still plays a vital role in the country's economy facilitating various transactions and as an agent for receiving and delivery of goods. Its parcel post section is still a hive of activity at any given time even with the increase in the volume of transport and container traffic. However our Postal Department has still not adapted to the times and still performs the duties of a clearing house so to speak. Our post offices are today mostly forlorn and empty except on pension days. Therefore a news report that the postal Department is to be overhauled and made to function as a modern entity is to be welcomed.

The Postal Department says it will attend to its various shortcomings so that the public will receive a better service. This follows the media highlighting the numerous lapses in the Postal Department in the recent past. According to Minister Jeevan Kumaratunga, the postal service will be streamlined to be more service oriented while a modernization program is now underway. That will see the introduction of 13 new services to the Postal Department. These are designed to bring customers more in direct contact with the outside world. These new features will include sending and receiving e-mail, e-buying, e-channelling and facilities for e-commerce.

A far cry indeed from the laid back leisurely postal services the people have been used to. In fact this upgrading of our postal services was long overdue. Besides it is one of the Government Departments that has failed to keep up with the sweeping modernization that all other sectors are undergoing. One would have thought the postal service being a communication oriented one it would be among the first to catch up with the new trend.

With the rapid industrialization of the country and the hive of commercial activity that the country is poised for, communication no doubt would be an important factor where the postal Department will have to play a not inconsiderable role.

Therefore the move to upgrade and modernize the Postal Department to meet the new challenges in the communication sphere is to be welcomed.

However, while modernizing the Postal Department in keeping up with the latest trends is important the postal service per se that caters to the common man, needs to be improved.

Today, our mail delivery system is left much to be desired. In this modern age where speed is the by word mail more often than not is delivered late sometimes at great loss or damage to the recipient. Imagine a letter calling for a job interview on a specific date arriving late to the recipient.

Our Telegraphic service is a scandal with telegrams conveying the message of a death often being received after the burial of the subject. There is a popular joke that ordinary mails arrive before telegrams. There are also complaints that cheques and money drafts sent home by Lankans in the Middle East are stolen during delivery. There are also theft of goods sent through parcel post.

Therefore more attention should be paid by the Postal Department to improve the service rendered to the common man who is without the means of modern communication. Most importantly it should ensure mail is delivered on time.

True, with the advent of e-mail today the Postal Department has much less mail to cope with than before. Thus it should have more time to look into the shortcomings in the mail delivery service and apply remedies. For, there is still a sentimental link of the people mostly in the rural areas with the age old postman who brings them both good and bad tidings. For this reasons the postman in villages sometimes becomes a central figure and is showered with food, drink and gifts during festive times and on special occasions. The postman's bell is often a thing that is still looked forward to in rural societies.

But with the communication revolution that is gradually spreading even in the rural areas and the changing ethos and culture of the present day, the postman will soon be a vanishing breed.

Already the postman who once commanded much attention is now a forgotten figure among folk in the cities and the urban areas with the tools of modern communication readily at their disposal.

It would be sad indeed to see the postman too driven to extinction like all other things we once took for granted, swallowed up in the hurly burly of modern living.