Dubai: Emirates Post plans to expand its services throughout the country, Abdullah Mohammad Al Ashram, the Emirates Post chief executive officer, told Gulf News.
Emirates Post, the sole provider of postal services in the UAE, has an extensive network of 140 post offices and offers over 55 products and a number of other services.
"Emirates Post will be able to deliver to and collect mail to customers who live in villas or apartments anywhere in the UAE by having a personal box fitted to their compound wall from this year," Al Ashram said.
For the first time, residents will have a cost-effective system through which mail will be delivered directly to their homes, Al Ashram said.
"In the last ten years, the postal service in the UAE has become much bigger, where services are all automated and interlinked," he said.
"Most of the postal and non-postal services have been enhanced to offer a lot of new products."
The move comes as most people opt for email, text messages and electronic greeting cards, as opposed to snail mail, prompting postal departments to come up with creative business plans to expand.
In an exclusive interview, Al Ashram explained further his organisation's plan.
Gulf News: Could you elaborate on the services and products offered by Emirates Post currently?
Abdullah Mohammad Al Ashram: Emirates Post's network offers multiple postal and non-postal services to individuals and corporates.
Beside the regular ones, our non-postal services include utility bill payments, air tickets, car parking cards, payment of fines, tenancy contracts, etisalat and du services, international driving permits, e-Dirham, Dubai Department of Economic Development services, Ministry of Labour, Shaikh Zayed Housing, National ID card registration, etc.
For corporates, we have services like Postage Paid, Business Reply, Seal Permit, EMS, Stamp Imprint, Postal Proxy, Tejari Box, Franking Machines and promotional stamps.
Is there room for new products?
Emirates Post is a dynamic postal organisation that always looks to diversify its services and offer high-quality services to the public and the corporate sector, leveraging the latest technology and human resources.
Starting from early 2012, UAE residents will be able to receive their mail at their doorstep. Emirates Post launched a new range of mail delivery and collection options that have been designed to bring postal services closer to subscribers' homes without the need to drive to post offices.
We are now able to deliver mail to designated post boxes that have been installed according to the individual subscriber's preference.
This means that mail can be retrieved much more easily and efficiently, with the option of having mail delivered directly to one's residence.
Of the four individual PO Box bundles, the new "My Home" service allows residents of villas to have a personal mail-box installed on their compound wall, so that mail can be delivered directly to and collected from their doorstep.
The "My Building" service enables residents of apartments to rent PO boxes on the premises of their buildings, such as in the lobby or basement, so that they need not leave their buildings to collect their post.
The third new option "My Zone" delivers mail through PO box shelters set up in selected residential and commercial areas that are much closer for customers than outlying post offices. This option already exists but is being expanded.
The "My Box" service refers to the existing PO box service where subscribers rent PO boxes at post offices of their choice. This service remains the same, with no changes to its existing structure or rules.
Subscribers can choose their preferred delivery option by visiting an Emirates Post office. Customers have the option to choose mail delivery three to six times a week; online access to information about incoming mail; temporary mail delivery suspension, option during vacations; location of mail boxes through GPS [global positioning system] and a facility to retain a PO box number in case of change of address, subject to conditions.
What is the progress on the addressing system that the government has been preparing?
The country has no proper street naming system. But recently the authorities have started to address the issue in each emirate and hopefully in two to three years, we should have the system in place.
The system is not only expensive but needs to be unified across the seven emirates.
Emirates Post has added to its multiple services office. What is the main reason behind this shift?
The diversification of services is part of our vision to make the post offices one-stop shops for a range of services. We believe that we have a vast network reaching every corner of the country and this makes the post offices ideal locations for delivering multiple services to the community.
More significantly, Emirates Post has developed a sophisticated Point of Sales (PoS) system that is powered by advanced information technology solutions. Our partners rely on our advanced IT infrastructure to extend their services to the community at large.
The main aim is to widen our portfolio and go beyond the traditional work of handling letters as part of a long-term growth strategy.
As the world turns towards the use of electronic services, post offices are losing money but also have become more of a community business. Could you comment?
Ten years ago, when the use of technology became more common and post offices started losing out, we tried to change the traditional business model.
With a major shift towards e-services, post offices across the world have become more like community business centres. Unskilled labourers and people with low income will continue to rely on postal services.
For example, in the UAE, we have around two million unskilled workers who can't use the internet and don't have credit cards to process their transactions electronically. Emirate Post tries to cater to all segments of society and our obligation is to achieve this.
We are trying to recover our losses by shifting our focuses on different services by keeping in tune with the market demand. It is very challenging not only to bring new products but to educate the market and convince the end-users.
What is the volume of letters that Emirates Post handles? Is it on the decline?
The UAE has been seeing a steady rise in mail volumes over the past few years. During the first six months of 2011, mail volumes were around 700,000 pieces per day on average. In the whole of 2010, the total mail volume stood at 241,705,983 pieces.
Are you upgrading your mail sorting technology to boost efficiency?
We have upgraded the sorting facility in our Ramul Sorting Centre. We have installed new machines that have more than doubled the sorting capacity. The new NEC machines can sort 35,000 letters per hour, compared to 25,000 by the old machines. We have two NEC machines.
The NEC machines have 360 sorting slots (against only 20 in the old machines).
This facilitates distribution of mail to some postal zones directly without the need for secondary sorting.
The machines have programmes for distribution of registered mail, identity card transactions, returned items as well as a culling drum for cleaning and stacking of mail dispatches.
With competition from courier companies, how do you evaluate the demand on parcel post? And what initiatives do you have in place to enhance this segment?
We believe competition allows different players to upgrade their product and raise customer satisfaction.
We still have a strong demand for our parcel service and we keep introducing more value to make the product attractive to our different customer segments.
Our main advantage is that we have links with postal corporations in different countries. In addition, we have appointed private partners to improve our parcel service.
What do you think about the increase in the use of fax machines, electronic communication and other technologies offered alternatives for conveying bill statements, personal messages, and packages delivery?
Competition is healthy and encourages us to think outside the box. One has to keep reinventing oneself when new technologies and new trends take over. That is exactly what we are doing.
How many agreements do you have with government departments? Do you believe that these agreements help push the postal business forward?
We have several agreements with different government departments and organisations, including Dewa [Dubai Electricity and Water Authority], Sewa [Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority], Fewa [Federal Electricity and Water Authority], etisalat, du, Ministry of Labour, DED [Department of Economic Development], Dubai Municipality, and other organisations.
These departments are happy to work with Emirates Post because of our large network and IT infrastructure. We are constantly adding new departments and services to our portfolio.
