As snail mail declines, PhilPost diversifies to logistics

The speed of email has made snail mail nearly obsolete. But the nation's post offices don't want to become extinct. Philippine Postal Corporation (PhilPost) is seeking to diversify its services from mail delivery to logistics through a partnership with DHL Express Philippines. “The traditional mail is declining,” said PhilPost CEO and postmaster general Josefina dela Cruz. According to PhilPost data, it delivered 156,165,480 pieces of mail in 2011, down 34 percent from 206,107,210 in 2010, while data is not yet available for 2012. “We are now a logistics company. You send, we deliver. We deliver your mail, we deliver your goods, we deliver your money,” dela Cruz said. This year, dela Cruz said, PhilPost is targeting an increase of 15 percent in revenues to P4.6 billion. In 2012, PhilPost earned P3.5 billion in revenues, 9 percent below its target of P3.8 billion for the year. ‘We are transforming the postal work to logistics services from mail delivery,” PhilPost chairman Cesar Sarino said during the DHL-PhilPost Partnership press conference held in Makati City. PhilPost inked on Tuesday an agreement with DHL Express Philippines to partner for an international service. The partnership will allow PhilPost to expand its services from its 59 partner countries to 220 countries and accept parcels weighing more than 20 kilograms. The service, pegged at DHL rates, is initially available in 12 post offices in highly urban areas: Ortigas, Pasig City; Greenhills, San Juan City; Cebu City; Baguio City; Sta. Rosa, Laguna; Angeles, Pampanga; Iloilo City; Legaspi City; Davao City; and central post offices in Manila, Quezon City and Makati City. Dela Cruz said the partnership will be one year initially, noting that the PhilPost offices offering DHL services are less than 1 percent of its 1,800 offices. The local express services provider will look at expanding to more postal offices after a year, DHL Express country manager Nurhayati Abdullah said. PhilPost entered the logistics business after it received nine out of 12 units of six-wheeler canter trucks and four units of 10-wheeler trucks in January. — BM, GMA News