Snail mail still relevant in IT age

 Pen-friends …  Derrick Cruz, a student at Kalihi-Uka Elementary School, holds up a letter in 2006 from Vernick Eldrine B James of Ruiz Elementary School in llocos Norte, Philippines. Hawaii State Rep Dennis Arakaki personally exchanged the student letters. What this little story tells us is that letter-writing is something that will stay very personal with us, despite the internet. – Photo StarBulletin.compic

By Juan Escandor Jr.

NAGA CITY: Even as the number of mails significantly reduced to a mere fraction from the thousands before the age of Information Technology (IT), the snail mail through the postal service still finds itself relevant today, according to an executive of the Philippine Postal Corporation (PPC) here.

Roger S Albao, postmaster of Naga City, did not expect any surge in number of mails this December which used to be the month they were flooded with them as he noted that postal service remains relevant for personalized hardcopies of documents and letters.

“The traditional mail which is now called snail mail cannot be replaced in terms of sending copies of actual legal documents like court notices and other relevant communications and billings that bear actual signatures of people or personalized communications,” Albao said.

He explained the hardcopies of personalized letters and communications that can be treasured cannot be duplicated through emails or text messages which are in the virtual world or channels.

“People who continuously patronize the postal service are those involved in business and legal transactions,” Albao revealed.

He asserted that hardcopies of personalized letters and greeting cards can be kept and treasured unlike those that are sent through emails that exist only in the virtual world.

Albao said that the PPC survives through the business communications sent through the postal service which comprise 98 percent of the total mails that come; and only two percent for traditional communications.

But he said even though the drop in the volume of mails had been dramatic, the number of mails daily the PPC receives reach an average of 2,600.

Albao said they have a total of 23 personnel including himself and only four of them are assigned to deliver the daily mail.

He said the four deliverymen can hardly cope with the distribution of the number of mails coming in even as he  hopes that the target of additional 13 deliverymen can be provided next year.

Albao tapped the cooperation of the 27 village chiefs of Naga City when the number of undistributed mails accumulates.

He said he himself distributes mails to help the limited manpower in order to catch up with the backlog. - Bicol Mail

A post office staff working on several postal items for the day's deliveries. - Websitepic