Improvements coming to postal services

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The master plan for liberalization of the telecommunications industry in Thailand is a controversial issue. State enterprises especially telecommunications providers, are expected to improve their competitive edge as well as their service levels to compete with foreign investors. The Postal Department under the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) is to be separated from CAT as a new company as part of the liberalization process. Improved levels of service and efficient back office management are the keys to success under the expected severe competition. Counter Automation, a new one-stop-service concept, is the hope for the Postal Department in its desperate quest to increase standards of service. Through Counter Automation, most services will be processed electronically. Under the plan, the organization will start implementing Counter Automation in 156 post offices in Bangkok this year and will finish next year. Another 343 offices will be finished by 2001. In 2002, all of the more than 1,000 existing post offices and all new post offices throughout the country will complete the implementation of Counter Automation. The total investment for this project is Bt1.94 billion. "Service at more than 1,000 post offices throughout the country will totally change after the implementation is completed," said CAT 's director of public relations, Anusra Chittmittrapap. When customers walk into the post offices, they will see computers and various electronic machines for postal services such as electronic scales, and machines for attaching stamps and issuing receipts. These machines will be linked together to provide faster and more accurate services to customers. Customer will no longer need to move to lengthy queues at different counters to do various transactions. At a single counter, they will be able to do any transaction including sending letters to both domestic and international destinations, sending parcels and buying stamps. The new service will also help reduce the use of paper and postage stamps. After a parcel or registered letter is weighed at the electronic scales, the fee will be displayed on the monitor and sent to a franking machine. The franking machine will print the fee on a label with a barcode. Customers will fasten this label to their postal items instead of using the traditional postal stamp. "In the future, the use of stamps will be significantly reduced. Stamps will be used more for collection purposes. However, we will still provide postage stamps to customers if they want," Anusra said. Customers will be able to keep track of their registered letters and parcels because the progress of all these items will be recorded on computers. The tracking systems will record the parcel number and the details of its travel, including the time and date at the various points along its journey. "At this stage we can't check where parcels are, or what is causing any delays. We get many questions about delays to international parcels. With this technology, we can check all parcels and causes of delays," she said. The organization is now testing the tracking system. This new system is soon expected to be used for domestic and international EMS services. If customers don't receive a parcel on the date expected, they can check where their parcels are and we can possibly refund the fee, she said. Apart from increasing the existing standards of service, the organization plans to provide many more services through Counter Automation such as payment of public utility charges like telephone, water and electricity. Credit card charges can also be paid. "We can utilise our network throughout the country. With the widest network of more than 1,000 offices, we will able to provide many services to people, even is remote areas. Already Citibank customers can pay their credit card fees through post offices," she said. This will help the organization generate much more revenue for itself according to the conditions in the telecommunications liberalization plan. Meanwhile, the organization has joined with the Passport Department of the Foreign Ministry, allowing people to apply for passports at post offices. The organization also plans to join with other government sectors to provide similar services soon. In addition to increasing front office efficiency, the organization is also implementing computerised links between front and back offices in order to reduce overlapping work. Information at front offices throughout the country will be automatically linked to the central office in Bangkok. The Bangkok office can check, control and manage all post offices more efficiently. Meanwhile, the back office will link with other organization which want to provide services through the post office network, such as Citibank or the Foreign Ministry. In addition, the organization is training its front office staff to understand the new technology. She said the idea behind the adoption of advanced technology is not to lay off staff, but to increase the capability of postal officers, provide better services, and prepare the organization for severe competition. This is the first big step for the post office in the adoption of technology to streamline its work. The postal department plans to improve its services to meet ISO certification standards as well.

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