Interesting link

[Eric]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... owing-here" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am not very computer literate so am not sure if this link will come out but if not perhaps one of you wizards out there can retrieve it for me. It confirms my perception and, I am sure, that of many others on here, that mail is not the dodo our leaders would have us believe.

[not me]

Snail mail much alive and growing here
Published: 18/08/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News





Snail mail, for centuries the main form of communication between people separated by distance, refuses to go the way of the dodo. Letters are not fading out in the high-speed communications era as many people think.

Thailand Post statistics show the number of letters being posted annually has risen from 1.05 billion in 2005 to 1.13 in 2006 and further to 1.3 billion in 2008.

Most are business and direct-sales letters. Very few are personal letters, said Wiboon Sereechaiporn, assistant vice president of Thailand Post's corporate and marketing communications department.

"The number of letters has increased over the past four years, but most of them are business letters," Mr Wiboon said.

"People send personal letters and postcards mainly on special occasions such as New Year's Day, Father's Day and Mother's Day. During normal times, they turn to high-tech services."

Personal letters sent in recent years amount to only 5% of overall mail, while business letters, including debt notices and advertising brochures, cover 95%.

This reflects the fact that writing personal letters is no longer the key means of communication, Mr Wiboon said.

The sharp drop in the number of personal letters is not affecting the postal service's revenue as it gains considerable income from business letters, he said.

Mail and the document postal service are the key sources of income for the state agency, bringing in 75% of its revenue, followed by logistics services.

Thailand Post also earns a lot of money delivering unaddressed marketing mail, a popular method of business-to-consumer communication. The number of marketing and promotional letters jumped from 2 million in 2005 to 6.8 million last year, Mr Wiboon said.

"The letter is still alive," he said. "We also see a positive trend in postcard writing among the young generation, who love sending postcards to themselves and friends.

"Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is one postcard lover. She writes postcards to herself while visiting other places."

The number of postcards has risen from 63.5 million in 2005 to 99.2 million last year.

Vichit U-on, director of Sripatum University's consumer behaviour research centre, which recently released the results of a survey of 3,000 people on the use of letters, said less than 2% sent personal letters these days.

"Although fewer people write personal letters these days, more than 64% of the people interviewed agreed that writing letters was a crucial means of communication," he said.

nice article

[Eric]

Thanks for doing that, Custard. I reckon that the scenario in the UK is very similar with the current decline in mail being attributable to dubious counting methods and the recession.

Does anyone know where I can find the figures for numbers of letters sent over the last few years? On the BBC website they say letters peaked in 2005 and one of the newspapers said it was 2006. It would be nice to find the truth. If it was that recent, doesn't it put the lie to claims that the "decline" is due to texting and the internet?

[La Poste]

Bear in mind a large proportion of the population in Thailand do not have computers and have no access to the "intonet"

[ziko]

Looking for Eric - Yes it was Interesting but it was also, Informative, honest and positive. The complete opposite of Peter Mandelson and Adam Crozier.

La Poste Your Wrong, read the article -
''Personal letters sent in recent years amount to only 5% of overall mail, while business letters, including debt notices and advertising brochures, cover 95%. This reflects the fact that writing personal letters is no longer the key means of communication, Mr Wiboon said.''
So your negative comment was uninformative and incorrect as it is businesses who are generating this increase in mail. So your comment ''Bear in mind a large proportion of the population in Thailand do not have computers and have no access to the intonet" Is a wrong un' as this would make absolutly no difference to the amount of mail generated unless your proposal is that when every single Thai cityizen buys a computer and every single one stops writting any more letters ever again then and only then would this have a 'Bearing' on the overall mail volumes and only then after all these highly improbable factorscame into play would there be a drop by a miniscule amount, This is Very Unrealistic La poste Listen to Eric!

[La Poste]

Allright allright it is Sunday morning.
It is true to say that only a small percentage of the population in Thailand have computers.
Emails and billing online are not used as they are here.