Harrowing visits to the post office without proper stationery promises to be a smoother affair now. On Tuesday, the Bangalore General Post Office launched ‘Post Shoppe’- a new service in the Karnataka circle where India Post customers can shop for stationery, greeting cards, mugs, small knick-knacks and books besides availing themselves of postal services.
The pilot project at the GPO, which will be extended to other centres depending on the demand , is a first of its kind in the country. The project, run by the postal department and their staff, is part of the diversification on part of India Post to keep itself relevant The service was inaugurated by Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar, who backed the efficacy and the reliability of India Post’s services. “In the case of many private courier services, we have seen pilferage and tampering. Which is why, India Post remains the credible alternative ,” he said.
Ashutosh Kumar Hanjura, Chief Postmaster, Bangalore GPO, said that India Post was one government institution that has laterally expanded and diversified to keep pace with technology. “We have address verification as a service, we have been selling mutual funds for major companies such as SBI, Reliance, UTI, among others, and were even selling gold here .”
Arundhathy Ghosh, Postmaster General, South Kanara region, said apart from simple stationery, attempts had been made to provide “quirky products”.