The management and board of Ghana Post Company Limited have outlined a number of strategies to revamp postal services, especially domestic parcel services.

Interest in domestic parcels has waned considerable affected the operations of the company and management says it is determined to reverse the trend. Between 2012 and August, this year, the company delivered 56,145 domestic parcels raking in revenue of GH?525,750.40.

The breakdown of the deliveries of domestic parcels are 2012 – 4,789; 2013 -9,003; 2014 – 13, 520; 2015 – 13,857; 2016 – 12,771; 2017 – 1,913 and 2018 – 292 as at the end of August.

As Ghana joins the world to mark World Postal Day today, Managing Director of Ghana Post, Mr James Kwofie,is of the view that many customers are unaware that the company undertakes domestic parcel deliveries.

The domestic parcel delivery services, he explained, would help its customers and prospective customers to safely send their items from one part of the country to another.

Between 2012 and August 2018, Ghana Post delivered 205,074 foreign parcels raking in revenue of GH?1,974,425.30.

The breakdown of the foreign parcel deliveries are 2012 – 44,459; 2013 – 35,422; 2014 – 27,828; 2015 – 25,562; 2016 – 25, 867; 2017 - 26,233 and 2018 - 19,703.

Charges 30 percent lower than competitors According to Ghana Posts, its charges are about 30 percent lower than what is charged on the market.

E-Commerce Service

Kwofie also said the company has also introduced an e-commerce service to support companies engaged in buying and selling to freely advertise their products.

Opening up Ghanaian markets to non-Ghanaian customers He said the e-commerce platform, which would operate like Amazon and the likes, would also open up the Ghanaian markets to non-Ghanaian customers, since the service could be accessed anywhere in the world.

To further make the e-commerce platform more convenient for customers, he stated that Ghana Post would actively take part in the service by delivering items that are bought on the platform to its owners.

One free adverts on e-commerce platform for all companies Kwofie added that the e-commerce platform would be run for free after its launch this month for the first 12 months, before companies that would be advertising on the platform would be made to pay for their content.

Electronic evaluation system

Similarly, he said, Ghana Post is also introducing electronic evaluation system to enable its customers to easily know the amount they are supposed to pay on received parcels, particularly those sent from abroad.

He explained that the electronic evaluation service would help to clear some of the inconveniences customers go through before taking their parcels from the company.

Blocking leakages in the company's finances Kwofienoted that the service would also help to block some of the leakages in the company's finances, stressing that the service would help to ensure consistency in their pricing system.

Customers to pay for services online

He said under the electronic evaluation service, customers could pay for the delivery cost of their parcels online and the item would be delivered to them in their homes.

GPS App

Touching on the successes of the company, he said the Ghana Post GPS is gradually gaining acceptance by many people in the country, adding that the company would continue to create awareness about the service and also encourage its usage.

Ghana Post GPS is a ‘home-grown’ location-based system which provides the most effective means of addressing every location. The Ghana Post GPS App was launched on October 18, 2017 by President Nana Akufo-Addo to provide accurate data for planning and service delivery for service providers and ultimately, make it easy to identify and find locations, as well as boost emergency service delivery.

The app was designed by Vokacom, a Ghanaian information technology firm, with the National Information Technology Agency (NITA).

10,000 items using Ghana Post GPS

Kwofie said over 10,000 items have also been delivered using the digital addressing system, noting that the digital address makes it easier for the company to deliver items to people at their homes.

Successes

He said for the first time since 2012, the company has been able to grow its revenue by 25 percent, which it intends to double in the next four years. He said as part of strategies to improve its operations, the company has procured 22 new vehicles to ensure efficiency and also embark on additional new routes.

Kwofie noted that the company has also taken full control of its operations which,hitherto, was in the hands of third parties, stressing that the company remains the leader in the cross-border postal services in the country.

He added that as part of measures to provide effective and efficient postal services in Senior High Schools (SHSs) across the country, the company intends to tag all SHS buildings with digital addresses.

This, he said, would make it easier for the company to directly deliver items to students whilst in school, pointing out that the exercise would cover all schools under the Ghana Education Service (GES).

Kwofie said government also intends to harmonize street naming exercises with the digital addressing system.