TIRUCHY: The Union government's decision to suspend booking of all categories of mail items valued up to USD 100 to the United States through the Department of Posts has left customers in Tiruchy with few options but to rely on private couriers who charge exorbitant amounts to send mail.
India has suspended all postal dispatches to the United States after Washington withdrew its duty-free threshold for imports valued below USD 800. The policy change has created uncertainty over tariff collection procedures, leaving carriers, including India Post, without the regulatory clarity or infrastructure to comply with the new system.
As a result, India Post has halted the acceptance of mail, parcels, documents, and gifts, valued at less than USD 100, bound for the US.
Currently, only a limited category of items is being processed for delivery.
Tiruchy head post office has been handling bookings of posts and parcels to several international destinations, including Australia, the UK, Sri Lanka, Canada, Singapore, Sharjah, Bahrain and the US. People from Tiruchy and nearby districts often use the service to send important mails, medicines, gifts and garments.
According to a senior official at the Tiruchy head post office, the exclusive desk for booking parcels to foreign countries usually handles around 30 to 40 consignments daily to various destinations, including about five to the US, costing around Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 per kg.
"Though the number of consignments was small, the ban has significantly curtailed revenue for the postal department," the official told TNIE. According to courier operators, private firms charge between Rs 6,000 and Rs 10,000 per kg for sending such consignments.
"We used to send important items, mostly medicines to our relatives working in US, through the postal department at reasonable rates. We cannot afford private couriers as they charge more compared to postal department. We now have to think of alternative ways," said P Srinivasan, a resident of Srirangam.
"During the Covid-19 pandemic, we used to book 5 to 10 parcels per day. Now it has come down to just one or two a month. Due to high charges, most people prefer to send their parcels through friends or relatives traveling from India. We don't know whether the rate would further escalate or not," said MR Vijayakumar of a private courier firm in Tiruchy.