Before the advent of electronic mail and other modern mailing system, the postal mail service or commonly known today as snail mail service has dominated the communications gateway around the world. It was that time when everybody seemed to have a penchant for writing letters on a piece of paper - may it be love, business, or personal – and always eager to send and receive letters.

But all of a sudden, the spirit of conveying messages through an enclosed white envelope with a stamp became almost a thing of the past, especially with the onset of modern gadgets such as cell phones and computers.

Many people are now wondering: How does the snail mail get along today? Coping with the continuous downtrend, the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) and other international postal partners abroad are exploring other solutions to address certain changes in the mailing business.

Philpost Postmaster General and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Hector R.R. Villanueva admitted that even today, Philpost is still affected by the impact of modern technology. But in spite of that, the mail company still remains to be a labor-intensive government-owned and controlled corporation.

“We have to admit that people nowadays are already comfortable with E-mails and other electronic service oriented architecture or E-SOA for bulk mailers but we never lose hope,” he shared.

Based on Philpost annual report, a four percent decrease in mail volume was reported last year compared to previous year because of rapid development in communications technology. Another growth interval is an increased franked mails, which they incurred a substantial diminishing return of about P184 million last year.

Villanueva explained that franked mails are the mails coming from the politicians and other government officials because under the government mandate, politicians have the special power to use the company’s work force, without charge, to deliver various mails and other paraphernalia to their respective territories. “But the increased percentage of franked mails last year is due to election period,” he clarified.

Although Philpost is a self-reliant entity, operating on its own without the appropriation budget from the national government, the company is still surviving. The Postmaster stressed, e-commerce and other private courier entities are not really a threat for them but rather an opportunity to improve their services and to be able to stay financially viable.

As of today, Philpost continues to serve Filipinos by having a vast network of acceptance offices with 1,976 post offices and postal mailing stations nationwide. Adding a fleet of 717 vehicles that are being used in the transport, collection, and delivery of mail matters.

Philpost is also into certain innovations like the modernization of the Mail Processing Office (MPO) through the installation of the International Postal System (IPS) that allows the computerization of data on the inbound and outbound mail dispatches from MPO.

“We also tapped ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and E-commerce as an alternative source of revenues. Philpost, by a virtue of agreement with Government Service and Insurance System (GSIS), facilitated the paying out to GSIS members/pensioner’s claim using GSIS/Unionbank/paycheck.net through post offices,” he said.

Moreover, Philpost ties up with other postal offices around the world, through Universal Postal Union and the Asian Pacific Postal Union, to enable a smooth delivery of mails at the widest range of reasonable priced postal products and services.

“If you notice, the prices of our services are much lower compared to private courier entities,” he said.
The postal system in the country started during the Spanish era where flourishing trade and commerce was carried throughout the country. However, it was fully- recognized when then president Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo created an all-Filipino Postal Service under the control of the first Philippine Republic in 1898.

To revive the heydays of postal mail, Villanueva urged the public to go back to “old fashioned” way of writing letters because handwritten mail is very different and more powerful than E-mail.

“Postal mail is no longer snail mail because we already upgraded our system. Mails can only take three days to make it to your doorstep if you are within Metro Manila. And we can send mails anywhere in the country compared with E-mail and other private mail service companies,” he concludes.