In a bit to save time and to avoid cumbersome processes the Andhra Pradesh Circle of India Post, is planning to launch a new initiative of sending letters and parcels through ‘Speed Post’ via ATMs (automated teller machines).
The postal department has tied-up with SBI for post office savings bank (POSB) ATM and launched it in Vijayawada recently. At present, SBI has allotted 95 ATMs in the state to avail the facility.
Explaining about how the system works, chief postmaster general, Andhra Pradesh circle, B V Sudhakar said a customer intending to send a Speed Post has to visit a nearby SBI ATM instead of the local post office and carry out a less than two-minute transaction to send the letter or article.
At the ATM, the customer has to choose the option of speed booking. Later, the parcel, which the customer intends to send, has to be weighed with a separate weighing plate attached to the ATM. Immediately, the necessary fee will be displayed on the ATM screen which the customer will have to pay using his credit/debit card.
“Postmen, who clear letters and parcels through ‘Nanyatha’ system, will visit SBI ATMs and clear the letter boxes and forwarded it to the section concerned to deliver them to the receivers,” the postal official said.
Currently, over 6,000 letters and parcels were being booked through post offices in Greater Hyderabad. “We are planning to launch the new system in the next three months in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,” he added.