In the last few days, I had to deal with postal offices in India for sending some posts in Bulk. For a Trust I'm involved with, we had to send some bulk posts to multiple places in India. These addresses were known but there were no other contact details like phone number or email address to communicate. To get those details, the initial communication had to be made. The postal charges were very much inconsistent and I had to look for the cheapest option. I initially started with the option of using Postal cards. The cost of the postal cards was only 25 paise or 50 paise.
I thought that will be the cheap and best option but I wanted to print the content on the postal card through some printer. When I approached the postal department, they said that if I'm printing the content on a postal card, I have to stick a 6 Rs stamp on the card to send it. It is very costly. I wanted to look for as many cheaper options as possible.
Printing on an invitation card
I initially started with this option of printing on an invitation card directly as it is an activity going to be done by the printing press and it also appeared cheaper. The only pain point is sticking the address. Instead of writing the address manually, I printed it with the help of a thermal printer and used it. It was a cost-effective and efficient solution. When I was going to post the cards, that's when I came to know about the Franking machine.
Franking machine
This is available in some of the postal head offices where there will be a machine and if we send the card inside that machine, it will print the stamping details. This is useful if we are sending business portals where there is no need for stamping individually. I approached the postal department with my cards and asked them to send them and they said that each card would cost me 7.83 Rs to send it which includes the postal charges and GST. I didn't look for alternative options and came back home.
Book posts
I approached a local post office instead of a head office and I dropped the idea of using a franking machine and thought it would be better to stick stamp manually and send. When I approached the local post office, they said it would cost 6 Rs stamp for the printed cards. But he then said that if I send it as a book post, it is sufficient if I stick a 4 Rs stamp. I then bought some postal covers and inserted the card inside that and used a seal to stamp the address and pasted the 4Rs stamp and sent it. This made me save a lot of money compared to the 7.83 Rs the head office was charging me to send in bulk.
Postal department needs an upgrade
I think the postal department needs a serious upgrade. The first thing is that they don't accept GPay any UPI payments or any online payment option. They accept only cash which is something that is against digitalization.
The next big thing is that the price is inconsistent. I wouldn't argue that the price of postal is costly but at the same time, I only think it is inconsistent because some costs don't make any sense at all. It does not benefit both them as well as the users. The users end up spending some unwanted money to reduce the postal charges. This way both the user as well as the postal department is not getting any benefit.
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