Send Email Via Post- Indian Post Office Launches ePost Corporate Service
Few years back, Gmail had an April fool prank ‘Gmail Paper’ that offered users to send email via traditional postal service.
Indian postal department has taken a leaf out of the prank and has launched ePost Corporate Service that enables companies to send business emails through the internet across the country.
In order to use the service, corporates need to open up a business account with the postal department (which is free of cost) and then send emails to postal department which will print the email and deliver them to the address.
The service has been soft-launched in Kerala on January 1, and will be extended to the rest of the country later.
Send Email via Indian Postal Department
Department of Posts will offer complete solution – right from printing, packaging, post printing and delivery; and has setup two printing facilities in Delhi and Kolkata.
The companies would need to provide data for their business mails. The postal department would do the programming and prepare the layout, print, package and deliver the product (postal department will charge Rs 6 per page of email).
The mails could include credit card statements, mobile phone bills and other marketing related information.
Great initiative that will enable companies to reach out to areas where even the courier service do not have a presence in.
At the face of it, the service might seem to be a ‘funny thing to do’, but it does solve a real problem statement. Moreover, given that Internet penetration hasn’t reached the rural India, what’s your take on this service?
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About the author - Ashish Sinha is a Startup Mentor/Product Strategy Coach, and the founder/chief editor of pluGGd.in.
He has launched/managed couple of products (consumer as well as enterprise) in US and India, and now consults with startups/small businesses on their product/media strategy. He can be reached at: ashish (at) pluGGd.in [+91 98452 06443]
I would say, Brilliant.. Cool..
super cool. so half the distance would be covered electronically. Hats off to McKinsey.
Well, for me its going to be good up to some part, because every organization is fighting to make a greener earth, save trees, dont use paper like that, but if postal department start this task, daily many papers will get printed out and dispatched.
For me if companies take initiative of sending sms to there employees or customers or any body relating to bills or any thing that would be better, and for those who live in very rural place then for those they can opt for postal department mail departure
What you say
Thanks & Regards
Sai Pothuri
It will surely click. Financial as well as educational institutions will be hugely benefited by this service.
I also agree with my previous post that the printing must be minimized. Still, wherever it is necessary, this will turn out to be an useful service. Cheers to IndianPost.
I am not too sure about the service. At Rs. 6 / page the price is steep. For big corporations (& even for smaller ones) I think it will be cheaper to print your mail and then post it.
Companies outsource business process (in this case sending regular mails) to save costs. Generally, credit card statements, bank statements even phone bills run into multiple pages and I do not see why corporations would want to pay Rs. 6 / page when they can do it in-house for a fraction of the cost.
It’s about the access. Courier services do not have access to rural areas.
Even for tier-ii cities, courier companies have limited reach.
So 6/ is justified as long as there are SLAs in place.
I am really fascinated to read this item.I feel courier companies should not think that INDIA means only metropolitan cities,but also the remottest villages.They should realise that they should do what others do not do.Atleast they made POSTAL DEPT get up and make drastic changes to survive.I wish to see that any courier sent to remotest address reaches the other end swiftly and safely and contents of the courier are intact.
It is really a revolutionary thing because it will avoid lot of printing (thereby saving cutting of trees)as far as the national interest is concerned.As for as the beneficiaries are concerned, their job is made easy that the postal dept is taking initiative to formulate ,print and deliver.No that every household is having one or two cell phones, this is definite to introduce a new concept in communication to consumers and customers. Price factor can be looked into to attract initial enthusiasm among the corporates
My only worry about this is the privacy issue. Credit card statements, phone bill statements do contain information that can be dangerous in the wrong hands.
Otherwise, to reach far-flung areas, untouched by email, this is great.
Could you quote the source of the story in a better way? I have often struggled to find the source in your articles.
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