Posta eyes varsity students with low-cost bags shipping service

The Postal Corporation of Kenya has launched a low-cost shipping service as part of its measures to pull back the young generation to its premises.

The service dubbed Travel Lite seeks to deliver the luggage of college and university students home at the end of every semester.

Posta has sought to collect learners’ luggage from their campuses and deliver them to the nearest post office at a flat fee of Sh500 per bag regardless of weight.

Students’ suitcases will be delivered the next days for locations in major towns while it will take two days to deliver to rural and upcountry destinations, Posta said.

“This service is specially targeted at students because they like to travel lite. They don’t like the hassle of carrying their bags when they close,” said Elizabeth Mwaura, general manager in charge of courier services at Posta Kenya.

“We’re currently doing activations at universities,” said Ms Mwaura in an interview with the Business Daily.

Posta, whose courier service has long been shunned by the young generation as a relic of the past, appears determined to shed that image.

Its baggage shipping service for students follows in the footsteps of global firms which provide low-cost shipping to college students such as Uni Baggage, Send My Bag, Carry My Luggage, and VOOVit.

Posta said Travel Lite targets learners at all universities, major colleges and polytechnics, opening up the State agency to rake in millions given the 0.6 million student population in tertiary institutions in Kenya.

A team from Posta will be pitching tent at each tertiary institution during their closing week to collect student luggage, saving the learners the trouble of carrying their bags to bus stops and through human traffic in urban centres.

Market share

Students will be required to fill a shipping label detailing the name of sender, originating campus, telephone contacts, and post office where luggage will be collected.

Posta is betting on the student shipping service as an innovation to reverse dwindling revenue and stave off competition from privately-owned courier firms and technology that has over the years eaten into the agency’s market share.

Ms Mwaura said Posta will be riding on its countrywide network of 623 post offices as well as the Sh500 charge regardless of volume or weight to woo students to use the service.

Kenya’s total university student enrolment stood at 443,783 learners, teacher training colleges (41,402), and technical and vocational educational training institutions (155,176 ).

There are 23 public chartered universities, 10 public university constituent colleges, 17 private chartered universities, five private university constituent colleges, 13 operating with letter of interim authority and one registered private institution.

Turn to innovation

Posta’s Travel Lite service comes at a time when the agency has unveiled a number of innovations to stay afloat including an email service and linking cell phone numbers to postal addresses.

Postmaster General Enock Kinara said Posta was turning to innovation to adjust to changing markets.

The Sh300 per year Posta Mkononi service allows customers to use their cell phone number as the post office box number, and users will be alerted via text message when their mail arrives at Posta.

Posta in November last year launched the Postal Registered Encrypted Mail (Prem) - an encrypted mailing service- targeting individuals and companies who rely on email for personal or official communication.

The number of courier/parcel items sent during the quarter to March soared by nearly a third to 970,020 items up from 747,173 items sent in the previous three months, according to latest data from Communications Authority of Kenya.

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