Postal firm sees fewer customers

Postal firm sees fewer customers

Antara, Yogyakarta

With e-mail is just a click away and SMS a popular means to communicate, sending Idul Fitri greetings by regular mail is a thing of the past.

And this Idul Fitri, postal company PT Pos Indonesia has felt the bite.

The company's deputy head in Yogyakarta, Rahmat Gumilar, said the decline was mostly due to a drop in individual customers. "So we are trying to focus our marketing now on corporate or institution customers," Rahmat said.

He said that corporate and institution customers still preferred to send Idul Fitri greetings and letters by regular mail rather than sending them by SMS or e-mail.

In the last five years, he added, the number of Idul Fitri cards being sent by mail in the province had declined by 10 percent a year.

"The declining trend is not just for Idul Fitri cards, but for letters and other types of mail. In this case, if we do nothing, PT Pos Indonesia cannot survive," Rahmat said.

He said while the company shifted its marketing focus to corporate and institution customers, individual customers would be left to the market since the company considered it would be hard to increase the number of individual customers.

Promotions to attract more individual customers, he said, were not an option as the cost and effort outweighed the benefits.

One of the company's efforts, he said, was to offer special services, like Pos Express and one-day delivery services.

The company, he added, also cooperated with other government institutions and companies in providing delivery services, such as the arrangement with Sleman administration in Yogyakarta where the company helped in mailing letters and tax reports.

Customers could also pay their phone bill or pay off a loan through the company, he said.

In spite of the situation, Rahmat expressed optimism the company would survive, especially since the rapid development in technology could not replace the need for delivery services, like for important documents. "Even in a developed country like the U.S., postal services are still needed," he said.