The 21st century post office
I have always thought of post offices to be more than just being clearing houses for postal mail. In a limited way, I realized this for the first time back in 1993.
While on a trip to Bangalore, I happened to visit a local post office. I noticed that the post office kept passport application forms too. In a country where people have grown used to running between offices and desks to get even miniscule of jobs done, this was a pleasant surprise.
Availability of a passport application form at the local post office was a luxury. It saved me at least a couple of hours’ time, that would have, otherwise, taken me to get from the passport office on MG Road, the long human queue notwithstanding.
As modern ways of communication broke time barriers and saw mass acceptance of sending and receiving messages via e-mail and the internet opening up many ways of communication, a thought among people began setting-in. That the post office was being marginalized. I intend to break that conservative thinking with this post.
Today, I am pained to see hubs of 20th century communication becoming sidelined, when in fact, they should be leading the glorious era of communication.
21st century post office is an ultra-modern place of communication, for all walks of life. It is a highly utilitarian, extremely social and community benefiting house in more ways than people have imagined it to be.
It’s entirely possible, even with tiny steps. Let me give you a visual: Think of a post office counter. Utility bills pay counter. A modern Helpdesk. Coffee Day. Cyber cafe/internet kiosk/Wifi lounge. A ticket booking counter (for movies, concerts; road, rail and air travel). A small bank counter. ATM kiosk. A parcel and cargo office. Now put them all together. That’s a modern 21st century post office.
The post office counter functions like a normal post office. Serving people for their postal needs, selling stamps, courier services, etc.
Utility bills pay counter accept bills to all services (Some post offices already have this and people easily vouch for their high usefulness).
A modern helpdesk will be a connected information counter for disseminating all kinds of information. Depending upon local needs, this place will serve any kind of information that citizen seek. A helpdesk in a real sense. All kinds of forms [tax, services, and applications] will be available here.
Cyber cafe/internet kiosk/Wifi lounge would provide that much needed connectivity and the need for information and for social interactions (limited only by floor space available). These would also house faxing services, photocopying and other mundane office related type that people can avail services of.
Coffee Day or a Starbucks like coffee lounge breaks the stereotype office environment towards a warm, friendly and relaxed atmosphere. It would even help people spend more time in their new community house.
A ticket booking counter. Be it for cinema, music / cultural concerts or for booking your travel. A personal help at a nominal surcharge for the busy types would complete the picture.
Post offices have always functioned as banks. They started to get noticed, as they began offering better interest rates than the banks, in recent times. But their infrastructure needs a stature, of the likes of Citibank. Even purely from a utilitarian point of view, to be functional, to be efficient.
(This is where I rub in many ideas together. Buy those 100 dollar laptops and put it on every village post office’s table, deploying them for [rural/government] internet kiosks would just be a couple of ideas. )
ATM kiosks or bank counters (if the town or village lacks one) can serve local people without having to make them go distant places just to get their task done.
A parcel and cargo office or counter is essentially part of a Post office. An upgradation of their services would boost revenues and renewed interest in the people availing them.
Stepping back a bit on the concept of a multi-purpose post office: The conventional model of service of postal mail is on the decline. Post and Telegraph department can harness utilitarian needs of citizen, all at one place, by using existing and established information houses, such as local post offices.
People already know that post office is an information house. Just drag this idea into the 21st century. And acceptance would be immediate.
Random thoughts: Infrastructure for HelpDesks — Install information kiosks [at least three languages: English, Hindi and a State language] that connects to a central Government database to query for information on Government related stuff and to the internet for general stuff. (Government would provide the connectivity for such kiosks.) Use embedded systems to save costs and field maintenance and for robustness.
Every village has atleast a small house being used as a post office. A minimal post office could at least have some of the above discussed things in addition to being purely post offices. A tiny improvement would go a long way in improving lives of ordinary citizen.
Chetan,
Not entirely wishful thinking.
you will be surprised seeing how things have changed.
check out Bangalore One centers.
http://www.bangaloreone.gov.in/
The Mission of B1 Project is “to be the One-Stop-Shop for all C2G interactions”.
The vision of the B1 Project is “to provide to the citizens of Karnataka, all G2C and G2B One-Stop services and information of departments and agencies of Central, State and Local Governments in an efficient, reliable, transparent and integrated manner on a sustained basis, with certainty, through easy access to a chain of computerized Integrated Citizen Service Centers (ICSC’s) and through multiple delivery channels like Electronic Kiosks, mobile phones and the Internet “.
Not bad at all, methinks…
Aug 2, 06 at 22:56Hi Rakesh, yes, in many ways, Bangalore has leap-frogged into modernization in its utilitarian ways. I remember writing about B1 a year ago. I wish to see the same or similar initiatives be extended to districts and rural places too.
I think Bangalore One happened because Post and Telegraph department didn’t realize their own potential to extend and expand their services in more ways than their current post only services.
I also think that it is still not too late to inculcate citizen services, like Bangalore One, within branches of Post offices around the country. Sharing infrastructure would help too on economic fronts.
Aug 2, 06 at 23:08