Today, for the first time in 2006, with ⅞ of the year gone, I bought and used a stamp to mail a personal letter.
q1: Do you know how much it costs to send a letter anymore?
The stamp is a relic today to many like me. I send out maybe 10 text messages a day and make a similar number of phone calls, and e-mails as well – not to mention blog comments and internet chats. Everyone I know has a cell phone, or can reach me by phone or e-mail – and only secondarily by post.
q2: When was the last time you gave anyone a P O Box address?
Hope for the post office
I also send out official letters from the office – but this is still not good for the post office because messenger companies (who we use) work with physical/office addresses not postal box numbers and take our letters from office to office – that way clients are assured of timely and reliable deliveries which they can track.
I still rely on a mailbox though, to receive electricity, water & telephone bills (fixed & mobile), postcards, corporate annual reports & dividends, Kenya gazette, bank statements, magazines arrive every week and this I guess provides enough revenue for the post office.
a1: 25 shillings
a2: Can’t remember no more steamy letters in high school, but I should be sending out some success cards in November to relatives once I get their school addresses.
i cant remember when i last bought stamps either. but i get bills and percel etc through them. i wonder whetehr that can sustain them. i think posta should diversify into hauliage, money transfer, percels, isp etc. they can also decide to be a yahoo of sorts. what stops them?
Stamps have become expensive. When i was in Standard four, they cost 1/=
By the way; Success cards
On utility bills (electricity, water, mobile post paid etc), I think they have lost on this one also. The utility companies seem to be moving to electronic bills via sms, email or web based.
Its interesting to see what direction the priest steers posta
Do they now have the self stick stamps? Or did you have to lick it, or use those disgusting moist sponges?
The P.O. has great potential for earning revenue, even with the digital age. They just have to morph with the times. I sometimes mail cards and small parcels from the US and they get to Nbi in one piece in 4 days. Much better than a few years ago when posta snail mail was plagued with long delays, opening of mail and theft of some items or a package vanishing altogether.
For me when I was in Kenya, P.O Box was for bills and official stuff only!
From here it is only once in a while that I send parcels and hence post office lazima but I must admit they had really improved their services when I was last there.
I think they are still relevant in Kenya because only Nairobi and a few other towns are fully digital. Not so the rural towns.
Shiroh: Let me not calculate backwards and come up with some statistics.
Anyway, I think besides sending success cards and application letters to all companies (‘read Banks’) in the directory; there is no more use for stamps.
Odegle: They do parcels, have interent access and pretty much anything legal, or from the government or bills – still go through the mail and post office
Shiroh: Can’t rememeber what they were in my day
dudej: You’re right – more utilityt companies are expereimenting – but still as a backup to snail mail. you can request a KPLC bill by e-mail (free) or SMS (10/=) whiel Telkom customers can also check in online. The Priest, I dunno….
Mitzy: Yes self stick, though I hear you can use water too. They are much safer now for overseas packages, but please rip out all the price tags (if contents are new) otherwise they will hit the recipient with a tax bill
Acolyte: Still is, and I agree – much improved. But do they have a viable future? Rural areas have mobile phones now, and matatus carry more packages
Riba Capital: Yeah, many companies still want job applications by snail mail, with copies of certificates attached – though I am more comfortable delivering these by hand so as to ensure I meet the deadline.