Counter for mailing services: Work related to sending and receiving mails is done at this counter. There are many sub-counters for purchasing postcards, stamps or other things related to letter, collecting the letters and for other purpose. There are other counters for mailing gifts and parcels.

Counter for Remittance service: Post office also provides money order services and postal order services. There is a counter which deals with all these service. To send a money order you just have to go to this counter, fill a form and deposit your money which you want to send. Your request will be processed by the person sitting at the counter.

Banking service counter: There is a different counter for banking services provided by post office. You can open a savings account at post office and deposit your money. You can also withdraw this money anytime. A person from post office staff sitting at this counter will help you to open the account and will tell you all the procedure. All the details about account and customer are saved in computer for fast access.

Insurance service counter: Having insurance for any person is very important as his family will get the insurance money in case of any casualty occur with him. Post office also deals with this service. At this counter you will get all the information regarding the insurance policies that they are providing and benefits of those policies.

There are other counters for sale of forms, bill payments or any other services.

Work is done systematically on these counters and it also saves time of both customer and post office staff.

Postman is an important constituent of post office, without him it won’t be possible to carry on the important activity of delivering the mails. He is an important public servant. He works in every nooks and corner of the country, whether it is a city, town or a village. The postman is a one who goes door to door and delivers letters, parcels, money orders and gifts.

The work of a postman is very difficult. He has to work in all season, whether it is  a rainy season, summer season or winter. He has to go from one locality to other for delivering letters. He has to even work late in the night to make the delivery on time. Postman has to cover many villages and cities; they have to cross many difficult terrains. Postman has to pass through deserts and forests and other hostile places.

Now days the work of a postman has changed a lot, people need more efficient services. They want their deliveries on time and also safety of their mails. In order to serve people more efficiently post offices have started to train the postman. With this training, the postmen are in better position to serve the people.

Post offices are also offering good salary to postman because they have also learned the efforts that are being employed by the postman. They are also provided many other additional facilities like life coverage, emergency holidays, etc. Post offices have started treating their employees as a part of their family. Delivering mails is not that easy job.

Today’s demand for postal system has undergone a change. Transformation in the content and providing quality service is the need of the hour. In order to meet these needs postal system has started its journey towards its makeover. Some of the silent features of the makeover are.

The prime objective of postal services is of delivering the mails to its desired locations, but with that it also performs various other duties like collection of money for postage and cash on delivery fees. If a certain client is not available at his residence then postman leaves behind a notice which specifies the details of the place where the mail is being held. Customers need good quality service. So employees are trained properly before taking up for the job. They are trained in all the technical aspects as well as in their communication skill, so that the customers fell satisfied when they have a conversation with them.

The modern postal system not only concentrates on the customer’s satisfaction but they concentrate on their employees benefits too. They consider employees as the pillars on which they stand. So they try and keep them satisfied in all the ways possible and provide various benefits like life insurance coverage, they also receive increment in salary on regular basis. They also enjoy flexible spending account after completion of one year term. They are even granted various leaves. The postal service observes 10 holidays each year.Thus makeover of the postal system has resulted into providing efficient services to the customers at the same time benefiting their employees.

Most post office workers nationwide are employed full-time, with good salary packages and benefits. There is an entrance test to get the job in post office.  After clearing the test, interview of the candidate takes place. In olden day, various recruitments for postal services were based up on the regional work-related groups. Applicants passing the entrance exam with a distinction were set as per the ranking system. list were made according to such ranking system. Applicants preferred other employment opportunities, as it frequently took about more than 2 to 3 years, before the applicants were called for an interview, depending on rank on the list maintained by the postal services.

There has been increasing demand for many such postal jobs in today’s market conditions due to the efforts taken by the postal services. .postal services update their recruitment programs so as to employ new qualified professionals. Postal recruitment team appoints the candidates by following fair means assigned by the government.

However the applicant should be qualified and skilled enough, the applicant should be smart, a polished look is what matters the most. Strong communication skills are very important, for a career at post office. However, it is also essential to interact in positive manner with your possible future employer and clients. Body language is also very important as it indicates the confidence and engaging personality of the applicant. These are all positive attributes and will always work to your advantage. Hence with a changing work environment the postal system is in hunt of such polished candidates who can serve the customers better.

The GPO was used to create a network where people could submit items to be sent from one place to another. All these items were known as pot, were transferred from one post office to many places which were called distribution points. At the onset, the recipients were supposed to pay for receiving the post. But this lead to complications as the latter had the right of refusing to accept delivery of the item and not pay for the same so this system was later changed. The charges for delivery were calculated on the basis of the distance between the two places and the GPO was supposed to maintain an account for each item sent.

The Penny Post was introduced in the year 1840. This had two new innovative ideas. One was the uniform postal pricing system which took care of the administrative costs and also reduced them to a large extent. The second was the pre-paid stamp system where adhesive stamps were stuck on the items to be posted.

Many countries later introduced additional facilities in their post offices such as a distribution center for government forms, application centers for passport and vehicle driving licenses, even banks and a place where he common people could use telephones to make calls.

The people who delivered the postal letters and packages were the face of the government in many countries. ; many mail handlers burn the midnight oil even today for sorting out mails and packages that are to be delivered at different places. But sadly, the institution is dying out to the advent of modern technology such as the internet and cell phones

Postal costs are increasing steadily in the past five yours all around the world as an attempt to recover the losses. Emailing, text messaging, and electronic bills are the main reasons for this drop in postal usage. Also, due to the recent recession many businesses have started to opt for paperless communication and cease mailing and advertising through mail. This was perhaps the last blow to many of the world’s post offices.

The only way to save this institution which is also the oldest in history is to start mailing again. You can write a letter to your old friend or distant cousin. Send a gift package to your nephew or just buy a book of stamps. Remember, the higher the volume of mail, the greater the chance of the post office’s survival. This will not only save your local post office but also the jobs of the people who work there. Shutting down a post office is a very long procedure which can take around 2 months.  This is plenty of time for you to do something about saving your local post office. All you have to do is just visit the post office and mail something or buy stamps and post cards!

Express mail service means your documents or letters will reach in less than a day. You can also send mails on public holidays and Sundays for an additional charge.  The pricing for this is either on a flat rate or by the weight of your package or by the ZIP code.

Another option is First Class Mail where delivery is guaranteed in two to three days at the most. This service is available for letters and small packages.

The parcel posting facility is the cheapest way of sending packages as it employs surface transport only.  The time can be anywhere between 2 days to 4 weeks depending upon the location; whether it is national or international and also depending upon the ZIP code for domestic delivery.

One of the unique amenities offered by post offices is media mail through which you can send recorded media such as audio cassettes, VHS, CD’s and DVDs. Even Blu-ray discs can e sent through this service.  The pricing for this is on a flat rate basis depending upon the weight of the package. The transit time is similar to parcel posting. Also, one thing to note over here is that you cannot advertise using the media mail service and there are also restrictions on what you can send by this service.

Bulk mailing is another facility offered by the post office and was used quite a lot until the recent recession that struck the global economy and companies started opting for emailing instead of the age-old snail mail service.  Many discounts are offered for bulk mailing and the service is still used by those who want to send magazines and other periodicals.

Electronic weighing scale is used to capture the weight of postal item automatically. It also displays the tariff that customers need to pay and saves most of the calculation time. Now money orders are sent electronically at post offices. Each transaction details are maintained at local as well as central servers. Customer can also view his payment details on web which makes things very easy for post office employees and customers.

Details of all post office banking services are also managed using computers. Opening of savings account and transferring of funds are done easily within seconds. With automation it becomes very easy to handle all the accounts and maintain all records of deposits and withdrawals.

Some post offices also provide internet facility to send mails and transfer money online. One person from office staff will help people to use this facility as many people in rural areas don’t know about this.

Post offices can also be in contact with their customers with the help of web based technology. A customer can send any query or complaints to the post office on web. When a complaint is launched, a unique id is assigned to each complaint and customer gets the acknowledgement mail. Post office staff works on the complaint as soon as possible and helps the customer.

So automation of post office has so many advantages and save time of both office staff and customer.

Post offices work with some of these banking services like accepting money deposits and withdrawal of deposits. So in this way we can say that post offices also playing a role similar to bank. Different schemes are also offered to attract customers and encourage them to save money. Here is the list of some important saving schemes provided by post office banking services:

Savings account of post office: We can deposit our savings in this account and withdraw it any time when required. The minimum amount we need to open this account is rupees twenty and the maximum of one lakh rupees can be deposited in the account. The account can also be a joint account. Post office also pays interest on the deposited money.

Time deposit account of post office: Fees to open this account is rupees fifty and there is no limit to deposit money in this account. Money has to be deposited in lump sum and it gets mature after a fixed time interval like one, two or three years. Depositor gets interest by post office on this money annually.

Monthly income scheme of post office: In this customer has to deposit a fixed sum of money for six years. He will get monthly interest on the money. Minimum and maximum amount that can be deposited in this account are rupees 1000 and rupees 3 lakhs.

So there are so many schemes provided by post office banking services depending on different groups of people.

The benefits of sending a post are as follows; we can track the progress of our delivery, it is less expensive, and it gets delivered to the door steps of the desired destination. Now a day’s post office also obtains signed receipts for registered, certified and insured mails, which increases the safety of the mails. There has been a makeover in the working of various postal services as per the needs of the customers. They act more responsibly and work for customer’s satisfaction.

Postal services also help in providing employment opportunities for the people living in rural areas. Postal service takes care of the public by serving them, but it also takes due care of its employees. Employees are provided with all the basic facilities like leaves, retirement coverage, holidays, and health insurance. They are trained to serve the customer’s. They are also provided additional benefits like life coverage, increment in pay etc. In the absence of the banks, postal service provides various financing schemes for boosting up the savings of the individuals.

Postal service provides many facilities like general or registered mail, parcel post, speed post, express post, e-post and special courier service known as EMS- speed post. They also offer a number of post office savings schemes like National Savings Certificate, Recurring deposits and terms deposits. Postal services not only benefit the ordinary public but also the employees serving them.