A total of 2,000 billion rials ($9 million) have been invested for improving postal facilities by purchasing trucks, vans and mail-sorting machines over the past five months, says the head of government-owned Iran Post Company.
“Safekeeping of people’s possessions and speedy delivery of parcels are the two main goals of Iran Post Company. To achieve these goals, the company has purchased 4,000 drop boxes to keep parcels safe from damage during transit. These boxes will be added to the postal service by May 21,” Ramezanali Sobhanifar was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“To improve delivery time, 400 SAIPA Van 151 have been purchased to take the place of mail and parcel delivery motorcycles in areas where demand for postal services is high. They will be added to the system by May 21.”
Sobhanifar noted that the development of mechanical mail-sorting centers is on the agenda of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies, adding that one such center was inaugurated by ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi recently and another will be opened in Isfahan in the next couple of months.
As online shopping grows due to the outbreak of coronavirus, a flood of packages is testing the capabilities of Iran Post Company, the government-owned and operated body responsible for providing postal services.
“Postal exchanges increased by 82% in the eight months to Nov. 20 compared with the corresponding period of the year before,” Fariba Moradi, an official with the company, said in December.
“A total of 141 million packages were delivered during the period. Furthermore, 50 tons of packages were delivered via railroad on a daily basis. The company has added electric motorcycles and roofed delivery vehicles to its logistics facilities,” she was quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban development.
“In the fiscal March 2019-20, the sorting and distribution departments of Iran Post Company delivered 170 tons of packages on its peak days but the volume of packages has now increased sevenfold to 700 tons per day,” Mehdi Maqsoudi, another IPO official, said.
He noted that the number of small packages increased from 120,000 in the fiscal 2019-20 to 350,000 per day.
Asked about recent complaints voiced on social media over the frustration of customers with delays, the official said, “The Post Company is experiencing a surge of package volume due to e-commerce growth ... The closure of most businesses … resulted in an unprecedented demand and some temporary service delays for some packages.”
Sobhanifar said IPO sends at least five tons of letters and packages overseas on a daily basis, adding that e-commerce shipping services account for 30% of total delivery services offered by Iran Post Company.
“In the past, parcels used to be transported to their destinations by vans or trucks but now they are being shipped by rail. The company has yet to dedicate an exclusive train for this job; it only charters wagons for transportation of packages and parcels,” he said.
“We hope to assign an exclusive airplane for the delivery of packages with the help of other agencies. Mechanical mail sorting is also on our agenda for the near future. Metal boxes have been dedicated for carrying packages to prevent items’ loss or damage.”
According to IRNA, Iran Post Company has 13,000 people on its payroll and over 20,000 indirect workers.
Each postman used to deliver 80 packages a day before the outbreak of the coronavirus. At present, they distribute 180 packages per day. Each postal worker daily prevents up to 1,000 unnecessary trips.
“Iran Post Company quarantines all packages received from overseas for 48 hours before delivery,” Mohammad Akhlaqi, an official with the company, said.
Post office counters are being disinfected twice a day to counter the spread of the coronavirus and to ensure people’s health. They won’t be closed on holidays and will offer services round the clock, IRNA reported.
In the public advisory posted on its website, the World Health Organization said, “People receiving packages from badly-affected countries are not at risk of contracting the new coronavirus. From previous analysis, we know coronaviruses do not survive long on objects, such as letters or packages.”
