BENGALURU: The postman will now deliver your Amazon orders a tad faster.
From April 6, he'll be at your doorstep the same day that you place the order.
The Karnataka Postal Circle has collaborated with the e-commerce major to
deliver shipments to all Bengaluru PIN codes. They'll be handed over to the
Amazon booking centre at 10am and delivered to respective addresses through
nodal delivery centres by 8pm.
Union minister for communication and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated
the service on Thursday. At present, the postal circle is booking about one
lakh e-commerce consignments at an average value of Rs 2 crore a month. To
cater to growing needs, a nodal e-commerce business centre with a built-up area
of 5,000 sqft was inaugurated by the minister via video conference. The
facility in Yelahanka, 17 km en route to KIA, enjoys good air connectivity and
is accessible to e-tailers's warehouses.
"With the Yelahanka facility and a few more expected in the current
financial year, the consignments will grow to an assured volume of 5 lakh at an
average value of Rs 10 crore per month," said MS Ramanujan, chief
postmaster general, Karnataka Circle.
Prasad said the postal department should come up with out-of-the-box
ideas to align itself with new avenues like e-commerce businesses. "The
postman is still a respected figure; people trust him. It's time you came up
with innovative ideas," he added.
Need dedicated aircraft:
Ramanujam said the department should be provided with dedicated aircraft
to meet the burgeoning demand of e-commerce shipments. "Currently, we are
dependent on private airlines and Air India, which make it a point to offload
our cargo whenever they get shipment orders of premium cargo. We are facing
this problem in Kolkata, which is a major gateway to northeastern states,"
he added.
ATMs in post offices:
If you have a post office account and are fed up with the prolonged wait
for cash transactions, here is some good news. All you need to do is walk into
the ATM set up at your post office. In a first, the postal department has
started commissioning ATMs at its branches. The first one was inaugurated at
the Bengaluru GPO by minister Ravi Shankar Prasad Thursday. The 336 post
offices under the Karnataka Circle have been allotted 76 ATMs so far. By
December 31, 2015, all machines will be functional. Debit cards will be issued
instantly and free of cost.
Other facilities:
The Circle Processing Centre, a single entity for back office
documentation work at the post office, was among the facilities inaugurated on
Thursday. Post Shoppe, a shelf for aesthetic and utility products for customers
was also launched. A special commemorative cover — Golden Chariot: an
unforgettable journey with myriad experiences — was also released on the
occasion.
