BotswanaPost pilots mail home delivery
Pauline Dikuelo | Tuesday January 27, 2015 14:40
This project, which is going to take a year, will take advantage of the ongoing Ministry of Lands and Housing’ s project of putting up street names and locators in the mentioned areas.
“People should expect to have post boxes set up outside their homes and have their mail, which is addressed to a physical address, not postal address, delivered directly to their home.” said Pearl Ntlotlang, Postcode and Addressing Manager in an exclusive interview with Mmegi.
Setting up of post boxes as well as finalising other logistics like the postmen delivery walks will be finalised by the end of March, with delivery aimed to begin April this year.
According to Ntlotlang, the decision to embark on home delivery of mail is a response to the ongoing global trends in the postal business. It is aimed at improving the customer experience and offering convenience.
“Customers will not have to get out of their way to go to their postboxes to receive mail. It also means corresponders or mailers are better assured that their mail will be received within reasonable timeframes without sitting in postboxes for indeterminable lengths of time until the recipient picks it up,” she added. Ntlotlang highlighted that no company has been hired to act on their behalf, as the BotswanaPost staff will be delivering the mail.
BotswanaPost is also looking to introduce postcodes to the addressing system, which will be piloted together with the home delivery of mail. “These will apply to both postal and physical addresses. The purpose of the postcode is to increase efficiency of the mailing process, including at sorting stage, and also complement home delivery by identifying locations much easier and systematically,” Ntlotlang added.
Last year when presenting their annual report, BotswanaPost Chief Executive Pele Moleta said that they are experiencing low volumes of the mail services due to modern technology.
“The company is going to be under-capitalised and therefore there would be a threat of closure,” he said, adding that they intend to rent some of its infrastructure to generate income.
However, Moleta said the future of their business lies on mail services therefore they are focusing much on hybrid mail services and are in the process of developing the necessary infrastructure. “Improving the mail infrastructure has the potential to contribute to an improved cost structure as investment in mail sorting equipment, ICT and delivery infrastructure capabilities will reduce manual and multiple interventions,” he said.
BotswanaPost is also in the process of merging with Botswana Savings Bank, as one of government’s efforts to ensure that the parastatal sector continues to contribute to the economic growth of this country.
For the past four years BotswanaPost honed its skills in third party funds collections for Department of Roads Transport and Safety (DRTS), Selebi-Phikwe Town Council, Ngwato Land Board. Through automation of their counters, they also offer prepaid electricity through partnerships with First National Bank Botswana, Barclays Bank, Be Mobile and Orange.
Through various initiatives, BotswanaPost is planning to become a P500 million revenue company with a cash cost to income ratio of 60 percent by 2016.