The main objective of a post office should be to deliver timely, efficient, reliable, courteous and cost-effective postal services. Over the past five-six years, we have been witnessing a deterioration in postal services. No longer can you trust India Post for delivery of mails, even belatedly.

If mail is delivered, delay is a rule rather than an exception. A local letter delivery is made on the third day. A letter from Bangalore to Chennai, which was earlier delivered the next day now takes at least three or four days, not to speak of long distance mails.

Postmen, it is a pity, still walk or cycle to deliver mail. Over the time, the corporates and even individuals started looking to courier services, where the  service is better. The postal authorities never bothered to practice private courier service strategy but started thinking negatively to bar courier services from handling mails.

No longer do we have three or two delivery schedules in metros. Speed Post is always a ‘Slow Post’. There are no separate counters for Speed Post or International Speed Post, resulting in wastage of precious time. While private couriers accept mail even up to 6 pm Speed Post counters close by 3 pm. Many a time, machines at counters for Speed Post or Registered Post do not work and one has to buy and affix stamps.

Instead of according priority to change the age-old attitude of postal employees towards customers, the authorities spent money on changing post office interiors. The ePost is an utter failure with the postal staff discouraging customers saying that it would be faster to send an ordinary post.

The communication ministry is to be blamed for the state of affairs of today’s post offices. Instead of focussing on core areas, it started drifting from its objectives by introducing all and sundry services, like selling and collecting passport applications, selling mutual funds, insurance products, issuing train and air tickets, collecting payment of telephone bills, verification of addresses for mobile operators  and what not. If it cannot render postal services in an efficient manner, one wonders how it can render non-postal services.

The advertisement and publicity expenditure of post offices on such services is a waste of public money. The post office should be a post office and nothing else. It should impart training to its staff at all levels on customer service. The post master should be easily accessible to customers, He should actively involve himself in solving problems at counters by providing additional or substitute staff, whenever necessary. Post offices should be open for registered and Speed Post beyond 3 pm and also on Sundays. The aim of a post office should be to disperse a customer within five minutes and to deliver an ordinary or registered mail to major towns, any where, within the country within a maximum time span of 72 hours. Domestic Speed Post mails to major cities shall be delivered within 24 hours.

Unemployed youth could be engaged on contract basis to operate at more points, particularly in cities. Surely, India Post can make a lot of money by reorienting its attitude towards customers and strategising its operations. If this is done, post offices need not be converted into sundry bazaars.