Post Offices will not become obsolete – Hughes

Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes, in an address in observance of World Post Day 2016, said, “Times have changed, methods of communication have changed, this particular source of national revenue has undergone some changes which is why we are recalibrating our focus to more efficiently accommodate our people’s 21st Century needs.”

Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes
Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes

 The Minister assured that “Post Offices will not become obsolete”.

It was recognised that the use of postal services has declined significantly over the past few years owing to developments in the area of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The ICT sector is being utilised for its speed, efficiency, availability and, in some cases, low cost.

“Postal services in Guyana are already undergoing very dramatic changes, even to the physical amenities and facilities that will benefit our pensioners, first of all,” Minister Hughes added.

Since persons worldwide no longer use the local postal systems as a first choice for sending mail and packages, systems are being put in place in Guyana, to deal with the effects of such changes.

Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) Board Chairman, Reverend Dr Raphael Massiah, in his message, pointed out that over the next two years, “we plan to hone all the available skills of our human capital coupled with the maximum use of ICT to offer an improved service with greater efficiency and reliability”.

Massiah said the GPOC needed to take a bold step forward and recalibrate its operations in order to remain relevant to the everyday lives of people and business.

With the establishment of the Public Telecommunications Ministry, Guyana is expected to move forward with the implementation of state-of-the-art telecommunication and Internet facilities.

Guyana will be preparing to confront fast advancing communication technology that has over time diminished the quantity of hand-delivered mail, which the Post Offices have been mailing across the world for more than 200 years.

The 64 branches of the GPOC will soon be rehabilitated to meet international standards to keep up with the changes in the direction of postal services. Services offered by this public facility include money transfer services, government or social assistance services, registration of birth, death and marriage, bill payments, and postage and revenue stamps.

This year, World Post Day was celebrated on October 9, under the theme, “Serving a new society: delivering beyond your doorstep”. The observance was declared by the 1969 Universal Postal Congress in Tokyo as a means to mark the anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which was created in 1974.