Snail mail still alive and kicking
Even in high-tech era of e-mail
By Desiree Caluza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:03:00 11/18/2008
Filed Under: Civil & Public Services, Holidays or vacations
BAGUIO CITY—In this high-tech era of e-mail, text messaging, blogging and multimedia and courier services, snail mail is yet alive and kicking.
Letters sent through post offices still enjoy loyal followers in the provinces and key cities because this mode of communication is cheap and continues to thrive for sentimental reasons, according to Tomas Baggay, director of Philippine Postal Corp. (PhilPost) in the Cordillera Administrative Region.
Baggay cited as proof PhilPost Cordillera’s earnings of P46 million in 2007, up by P1 million from 2006.
PhilPost officials said letters processed and sent through postage meter machine made the biggest percentage of the government firm’s annual revenue here at P21 million.
Sales of stamps reached P10 million while postage charge account, also known as the “mail now, pay later” scheme, earned about P3 million.
“Handwritten letters still have a sentimental effect. That could be the reason why there are those who still want to send letters through post offices. The sentimental part of it is you could always go back to the letter and read it all over again,” Baggay said.
Efficient delivery
Snail mail is still appreciated in rural areas, he said, because the infrastructure of modern communication facilities and equipment had yet to reach these places.
Mail is delivered efficiently in provinces, Baggay said. He noted that some delivery firms were tapping PhilPost in sending mail and packages to areas normally not covered by their services.
“Other private couriers send the express mail through PhilPost because it would be impractical to deliver mail and documents if these are only few. Of course, we cannot refuse these companies because we still want to deliver our own services aside from the fact that this also contributes to our earnings,” said Rodrigo Anaban, director of PhilPost’s mail distribution center here.
Holiday bounty
Victoriano de Leon, city postmaster, attributed the bulk of the agency’s revenues to the holiday season. Peak season for snail mail is between October and February, when post offices are swamped with people who send out Christmas and Valentine cards to their relatives and friends here and abroad, he said.
“I believe that personalized greeting cards have a lasting effect, maybe that is why we still have volumes of cards that we deliver,” De Leon said.
“We still experience a traffic of mail during [the Christmas season]. That is why we advise the public to send their greeting cards as early as October because airlines give priority to packages during this season,” Baggay said.
He said that PhilPost did not lay off employees when e-mail entered the picture.
But for postal district managers in the provinces, the lack of personnel and post offices affects the efficiency of mail delivery in rural areas.
Caridad Grad, acting postal district manager in Mountain Province and Ifugao, said mail deliveries were scheduled once or twice weekly in rural areas.
Many postmasters also act as postmen in rural areas due to lack of personnel, Grad said.
“But most of the time, postmasters cannot deliver letters because they cannot leave their offices. There is only one person working in a post office in some towns.”
She said the agency had to tap the services of people in local governments, such as barangay (village) officials and rural health workers, to deliver the letters.
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