BENGALURU: The long wait at post offices to send documents or letters through Registered or Speed Post could soon be a thing of the past.
The Bangalore Postal Department plans to install automated kiosks at important locations such as court complexes, Metro stations and the airport, to make it easy for the public to self book their documents.
Billed as ‘Speed Post Kiosks’, these big red boxes are a joint venture of the Karnataka Postal Circle, C-DAC and ITI Ltd. After a successful pilot study conducted at the General Post Office a year ago and the wait for the Postal Directorate’s approval to come through, the boxes are finally ready to be used.
S Rajendra Kumar, Postmaster General, South Karnataka Region, told TNIE, “These kiosks will be useful for people at offices where daily despatch of documents take place. We plan to set up our first kiosk inside the High Court shortly.”
The acceptance and popularity of online payment modes has given scope to launch such a kiosk, he added.
The person sending the delivery can either visit the kiosk and enter the receiver’s and sender’s details, or can do it through an app that can be downloaded on a mobile or computer, Kumar explained. “In case an app is used, it will generate a token number that needs to be entered at the kiosk for retrieving the data. The kiosk has a user interface for data capture, barcode dispenser, weighing scale and mechanism for accepting payment through debit or credit cards or UPI/BHIM,” he added. The kiosk will dispense a receipt after the booking is done.
Asked about the risk involved in despatching materials through this mode, the official added, “We are not permitting despatch of parcels. Just like how one drops letters in a post box, people can drop in their registered or speed documents here,” he added.
A working Smart Post Kiosk is on display at the India Post Stall in the ongoing Global Exhibition of Services at the Bengaluru Palace.