RIYADH, 12 August 2005 — Expatriates and their families can now receive mail under a new service provided by Saudi Post.
Known as the family box, it allows the owner to add ten different names to his P.O. Box for the same charge of SR300 for a three-year subscription. However, if more people wish to receive their mail via the same P.O. Box, there will be an additional charge of SR50 per head.
Saudi Post has also launched a new facility for industrial establishments and companies. Available for SR3,000 annually, it allows thousands of mails to be received via a single P.O. Box. However, the annual subscription has been reduced to SR1,000 for smaller organizations.
These measures were launched in preparation for the move to privatize Saudi Post. The thrust of its service, according to a reliable source, is to ensure prompt delivery to homes and business establishments.
According to Dr. Usamah M. S. Altaf, vice president of Saudi Post, the Saudi Post had approved plans for the distribution of around 5 million such personal P.O. Boxes in different parts of the Kingdom. The project will kick off from Riyadh and subsequently cover Makkah, the Eastern Province and other regions.
National establishments will be licensed by SPC for the implementation of this project. An estimated SR600 million is to be invested in the Riyadh project alone. Market experts believe the postal and cargo market is projected to grow by six percent annually during the next 20 years. As the home delivery service is extended to other parts of the Kingdom, it will also create job opportunities for Saudis.
Post boxes will also be installed in residential localities to enable registered members to drop their mail. According to the last census there were four million such locations all over the Kingdom.
A prominent feature of the new system is the use of a smart chip that alerts the postman when he is in the vicinity of an addressee. The smart chip will be embedded in the mail box, which will be fixed to the entrance door of the house/apartment.
The Geographical Positioning System, the Geographical Information System and the routing system guide the driver to the right destination, thereby preventing any misdirection. There is also a track and trace system on the Saudi Post’s website that lets a registered user know the status of the user’s mail. The user simply has to enter his/her EMS ID Number, which will in turn reveal the current status of the incoming or outgoing mail within seconds.
Women will also be appointed in the Saudi postal service for manual sorting of mail, handling computerized records, coding, setting up training programs as well as handling inquiries and follow-ups.
The first step in this direction would be the setting up of a training program for opening more women sections and hiring more Saudi women. Currently a women section has been opened at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah to serve the women staff of the university.
