Directorate of Posts’ Speed Post service has set a record by transporting about 400 tonnes of goods over the last two months.
The service operates at a charge of Taka 10 for the first kilogram and an additional Taka 5 for every subsequent kilogram.
In a recent interview with BSS, Director General (DG) of the Directorate of Posts Kazi Asadul Islam said the postal service had never transported such a volume of goods within just two months.
Seasonal fruits were frequently sent through the postal service this time. Refrigerators, cupboards and wardrobes have also been transported, along with large pieces of furniture, he said. Students have also sent pillows and bedding through the service.
Asadul Islam said kitchen cleavers, chopping knives, cooking pots and utensils, pressure cookers, induction stoves, LED televisions, air conditioners, bicycles and even pesticide spraying machines can now be sent through the postal service.
Several motorcycles have recently been sent by post on a trial basis, he added.
Asadul Islam said goods booked through Speed Post must be made ready for delivery by the relevant post office within a maximum of 24 hours when sent from a district town to Dhaka, 48 hours when sent from one district to another, and 96 hours in remote and hard-to-reach areas.
The Director General said several additional measures have been introduced to make the service more customer-friendly and ensure that the goods reach customers easily and safely.
According to the Directorate of Posts, an online postage calculator has been launched for customers’ convenience. Through this calculator, customers can determine the cost of transporting their goods in advance.
At present, goods can be sent directly from several sub-post offices in the capital, including the General Post Office (GPO), as well as offices in Gulshan, Banani, Mirpur and Uttara. For international parcels, the directorate also provides the international EMS service.
Asadul Islam said the Directorate of Posts has established specific procedures to ensure that the service operates in an orderly manner.
However, he said, considering security concerns, certain items have been excluded from the service. “Explosives and flammable substances, harmful or hazardous chemicals, narcotics, live animals, firearms, and both full and empty gas cylinders cannot be sent through Speed Post.”
Asadul said people’s confidence in the postal services grew during the 13th parliamentary elections, while more than 15.33 lakh voters registered to cast their votes by post in the elections.
From casting their ballots to the delivery of those ballots to the relevant returning officers, expatriate voters received real-time messages about every stage and were able to track the progress of their votes, he said.
The Director General said this experience later spread through social media without any promotional campaign.
“Small entrepreneurs and content creators have benefited the most from the service. They themselves took initiatives to promote the service,” he said.
Noting that this popularity is opening up new possibilities for the Directorate of Posts, he said recently a customer who was transferred to another district expressed interest in sending all of his household furniture through the postal service while relocating.
The Directorate of Posts in many countries around the world provides such inter-district household relocation services, Asadul said, adding that there are plans to introduce a similar service in Bangladesh in the future.
“To that end, the necessary logistics capacity is being developed gradually. As part of this effort, 50 electric bikes have already been procured under an environment-friendly project. The bikes will operate on green energy,” he said.
Asadul said the current capacity of the Railway Mail Service in Kamalapur has become limited, making it increasingly difficult to handle different types of items together, such as examination papers and plant saplings.
So, he said, a plan has been adopted to expand the Dhaka GPO campus and use it exclusively for import and export parcels arriving from or destined for foreign countries. In this way, mail management will be operated in an integrated manner through a total of three hubs, including Tejgaon and Kamalapur.
The Director General said that, as a state institution, profit is not its primary concern.
“The true success of Speed Post will be measured by connecting people in every corner of the country through safe and affordable services,” he said.
Speed Post service was launched as part of the government’s 180-day action plan, in line with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) election manifesto. Initially launched to transport seasonal fruits, the service has now expanded to include the transportation of a wide range of large and everyday consumer goods.
