Postal services will have to change to keep up with a world that is becoming more tech-driven. This will bring both chances and problems. Compared to the past, the way the service works now is very different.
Kathmandu— Bhawani Jaisi, who is 65 years old, goes to the Goshwara Post Office in Dillibazar a lot. She sends her daughter in Canada packages of homemade food, like amla pickle, dried leafy vegetables, roasted corn, and soybeans. “The days of writing letters are over.” She says, “Now it’s easy to send food to other countries.” “I talk to my daughter on Facebook and WhatsApp, but when it comes to sending things, the postal service seems more reliable.”
Dhirendra Raj Bhattarai from Naxal also sends medicine to his son in Japan by mail. His kid has a gastrointestinal problem. He thinks the service is cheap and reliable compared to expensive private courier companies.
Ravindra Pokharel, who is in charge of administration at the Goshwara Post Office, said that delivering packages has been easier. The Express Mail Service (EMS) now makes it possible to get packages faster and on time. This service costs a little more than ordinary ones, but it is becoming more popular, especially for shipping things to Nepal from other countries.
In the past, the postal service’s job was to safely transport letters, government paperwork, treaty papers, and money transfers. These obligations have grown a lot since then.
The Goshwara Post Office’s numbers for the 2081/82 fiscal year reflect a lot of use:
- About 6,774 packages and other products were sent within Kathmandu.
- To other districts: about 2,454 things
- Sent to other countries: about 21,548 packages
According to Manmaya Bhattrai Pangenni, Director-General of the Postal Services Department, the service is also using postage stamps to promote art and culture. There are eight new stamps that show native agricultural themes, such as oranges, honeybees, rayosag (a local vegetable), the Naumuthe cow, Asala fish, wild goats, native buffalo, and indigenous vines. There is also a stamp in memory of the late Swami Parmananda Saraswati. Prithwi Subba Gurung, Nepal’s first Minister for Communications and Information Technology, put the first stamp on himself. He said that stamps are very important for keeping history and culture alive. He also said that updating the postal act is necessary to match the needs of today.
Pangenni also said that the department is working toward a “one local level, one post office” approach, which will make postal, parcel, and EMS services available to more people in more places, both in the US and abroad. The service now takes care of crucial things including official paperwork, passports, citizenship papers, and prescription drugs at lower prices set by the government.
Nepal’s postal service has EMS agreements with 39 nations, can send mail to 71 countries, and can get mail from 192 Universal Postal Union member states.
But there are still problems to deal with. Some of these are a lack of resources, not enough people, infrastructure that isn’t favorable to technology, a budget that isn’t big enough, obsolete legislative frameworks that make it harder to modernize (including the integration of e-commerce), and the lack of dedicated postal trucks, which slows down sending and receiving mail.
Dhruvaraj Acharya, another high-ranking official, said that a lot of people still don’t know about the new services that are available. Sending packages internationally through the post is usually 40–50% less than using a private company, making it a good decision for your wallet.
This year, postal income went up by NPR 390 million. Cross-border deliveries are going up, especially to countries that Nepal has agreements with, like Japan, South Korea, the UAE, China, Australia, France, the US, Germany, and Malaysia. Deliveries to other countries are still limited because there are no formal agreements.
