From snail mail, Posta gains speed with digital delivery means

Back then when most of us were in high school, a weekend was never worthwhile if on a Friday the prefect on duty did not read out your name among recipients of letters.

The nicely sealed envelopes were prized long before the evolution of mobile money. It could either be your philanthropic parents fulfilling their promise of “sending you something” before end of term or a perky friend sharing a moving letter on how you were missed.

At worst, these could just be breakup letters.

Such emotions contained in the missives made one school employee- the messenger – an important part of the life of a student.

The messenger had to ride a bicycle to the nearest office of then Kenya Posts and Telecommunication Corporation before it adopted the Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) tag. This was a government owned mailing system dating back to the 17th century.

And to many a student, exchange of letters was an age old experience. Actually, it was taught in schools that sending letters started in Kenya around 1848 when missionaries communicated back then using runners as delivery mediums.

Then came postage stamps around 1889-90 prompting post offices to be opened in Mombasa and Lamu Island.

Two years later offices were opened at Malindi and Wasini and by 1897 another was to open at Kilindini, necessitated by the construction of the railway.

The result was that each administrative town in the country ended up with a post office. If you had a post office box number back in the days, you were famous – more so if you allowed other villagers to share it to receive letters.

A number of patriotic songs were composed about letters by groups such as the Kenya Army’s Maroon Commandos, among others.

Posta by then was the only way people in different geographical locations would keep in touch and if your parent worked with the government, your entire family was seen as the most advanced, at least that was the case back in my hometown – Webuye.

People would queue in line for hours just to chance dropping some coins in the phone booth to make a call. Others would hover around for someone they called to return their favour.

That face of Posta would meet its waterloo in 1993, a watershed period when the Internet was introduced in Kenya, giving citizens a true taste of convenience.

Government data shows that every two months after Posta started losing its popularity, over 2,500 driving licences that are usually sent through it to their new applicants, would be returned to the National Transport and Safety Authority.

This is because owners of Posta box numbers stopped going for their mails, perhaps they have even lost their pigeonhole keys and don’t care to replace. If it is that important, they will reach me through my phone number, they would say.

Kenyans slowly started shunning the postman since now they could message almost instantly through their Internet enabled phones (for those who were lucky) or through a cyber café in town.

Buying a phone then was like securing a plot of land for future investment. The phones business and the Internet disrupted Posta services, forcing envelope makers to nearly shut down.

Kartasi Brand – a renowned stationery manufacturer was not spared the change of times.

“What has made us stay strong in this business is the willingness to diversify and change with the trends,” said the company’s chief operating officer Arvind Badrinarayanan.

“A good example is when we stopped the production of envelopes and inspirational notebooks mostly adopted by ladies to write love letters,” he said.

“We sold the machinery 15 years ago. The Internet is with us and since it was no longer viable we have moved on to other things.”

But Posta has been relentless and refused to give up. Just like Kartasi Brand, they have since become innovative – and “moved on to other things”.
They have embraced new technologies – new digital way to get mail.

You get your mail wherever you are unlike before if your box number was registered in Webuye, for instance, you could only get access to your mail box when you are in the town.

But now, Posta has made it possible for one to get their mails regardless of wherever they are. This is through the Mpost platform that registers one’s mobile number as their box office number.

Those who used to share a box number, now is the time to let go and own your number… letters will now follow you and not the other way round.

It is even cheaper now to get mail through Posta. You only need to part with 80 cents a day, translating to Sh300 a year to own a post office box number.

This can be paid through M-Pesa – no more hassle thus saving Sh2,000 that you would otherwise have paid to maintain your box in the olden days.