FOLLOWING the launch of Jamaica Post’s international courier service Fast Track in October of last year, the government agency recently has been rolling out the rebranded priority mail service, Zip Mail, which provides delivery of packages on the next business day.

“Jamaica Post has been on a drive for the last few years to modernise and improve the services and offerings to the public, especially as it relates to the demands of the market,” Kathy-Ann Yetman, public relations officer, told the Jamaica Observer.

Yetman pointed out that the service is presently being offered in selected post offices located in central business districts (CBDs), including Montego Bay, Mandeville and the Kingston Metropolitan Area — Constant Spring (8), Half Way Tree (10), Liguanea (6), Cross Roads (5) and downtown Kingston — and that plans are in place to continue with ‘soft launches’ in CBDs in other parishes as the year progresses. However, she noted that deliveries can be sent to any of the 88 post offices islandwide, where receivers are informed by phone and/or email upon arrival of packages.

“This is a big deal for us because it really is part of our thrust to recapture the courier market and start to put our print there in a significant and meaningful way, and so far the take-up has been pretty good,” she said , adding: “We’ve gone out and we’ve got the kind of technology that is required to deal with this.”

The technology includes hand-held devices for signing of electronic forms, wireless point-of-sale machines, as well as software which allows customers to track the location of packages. And with the improvement in technology and the already available large network of staff islandwide, Yetman said that monitoring and management of the delivery process ensures that Jamaica Post is aligned with market demands.

“So we have a really intact and tight transportation system to get the things around by the next business day,” she told Sunday Finance.

To this Sales and Marketing Manager Ava-Gail Simpson added, “Even though we guarantee next business day delivery, it is our hope that in the near future we will eventually exceed this… to possibly same day.”

In order for Zip Mail, and Jamaica Post by extension, to be “the best choice for consumers” who want “speed and affordability and efficiency”, Simpson explained, “we are aggressively targeting corporate entities, and these range from large corporations to medium and small enterprises.”

She reiterated Yetman’s comment that the market response has been positive, which means that marketing strategies are paying off, especially since Jamaica Post offers its corporate clients a credit facility. So far Jamaica Post has gained new business from financial institutions (credit unions, insurance companies, building societies, banks), law firms, as well as Government department and agencies like the Administrator General, Simpson said.

Jamaica Post offers its customers a full complement of pick-up and drop-off services that can be utilised at their convenience: Door to Door, Door to Post, Post to Post, and Post to Door. For the first two services, the public relations officer explained, only debit/credit cards are considered acceptable means of payment, while cash is accepted, in addition, at for the latter two at post offices.

When asked about other services that are included in the move towards modernisation, Yetman recalled the Fast Track service, which she described as outbound international service (post to door) that is offered in conjunction with DHL Limited, but takes 3-5 days for completion of the delivery process. However, Yetman also noted that modernisation should not be limited to postal products and services, but seen in the context of “holistic communications logistics”.

Last October Minister of Technology Phillip Paulwell opened an Internet café at the Liguanea post office in partnership with telecommunicatins giant LIME — another service in the pipeline for roll-out later this year — which also provides faxing, scanning, printing and copying services. The pilot was financed in part through the Universal Access Fund, where taxes collected from communications companies are used to provide internet access within schools, libraries and post offices.