Posta targets youth with phone-based post office boxes
Postal Corporation of Kenya CEO Enock Kinara speaks during a past media briefing in Nairobi. He said the corporation is targeting the younger generation who do not wish to own a physical Post Box. FILE PHOTO | SALATON NJAU |
What you need to know:
The platform, dubbed Posta Mkononi, will allow customers to use their mobile numbers as their post office box address.
The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) has launched a mobile-based service connecting its physical letter boxes to consumers' mobile phones in its latest move to increase the use of its services and grow the firm's revenues.
The platform, dubbed Posta Mkononi, will allow customers to use their mobile numbers as their post office box address.
A notification will be sent to a customer's phone upon sending or receiving a package from any post office in the country.
New customers will pay Sh300 annually for the service compared to the current Sh2,320 being paid by those using the physical letter boxes.
With Posta MKononi, one is able to track his or her mail from their mobile phone and get a notification once it is received. There is also the option of having the package delivered to one’s doorstep at a fee.
Enock Kinara, the Post Master General, said the service is targeting the younger generation who may not be interested in owning a physical post office box.
“Postal Corporation is in the track of embracing technology and striving to expand its product portfolio from the traditional mail to modern forms of communication that suit the current market model,” said Dr Kinara.
Customers can register for the service by texting the word “MPOST” to 40777.
The latest data from the industry regulator Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) for the three months to December 2015 indicates that the volume of letters posted locally increased by 35.6 per cent to stand at 17.6 million letters up from 12.9 million letters posted last quarter.
This is an improvement from December last year when CA data showed that the number of letters sent through the Post Office had dropped by nearly a fifth.
Similarly, the number of courier items sent during the quarter was registered at 445,836 items, marking a significant growth of 46.1 per cent.
