Each site has its own niche and clientele. Dear India (http://www.dearindia.com) gets a lot of mail from the Gulf, but is planning to try and grab the market in Russia. “Word of mouth and advertisements in Indian papers abroad have helped generate traffic for us. That’s where the main cost of the site is incurred,” explains CEO, K Joseph, who runs this operation at home along with his wife and an assistant. Currently receiving 600 odd mails a day, their revenue is from printed ads on the envelope and writing paper. “The response is quite good; enough to sustain operations and make a marginal profit too,” says Joesph.
For the users, it is a boon. Explains Chennai-based Mallika Srinivsan, who uses Bharatmail’s Scan mail and snail mail to communicate with her landlord’s son in the US , “It is easier to explain complicated matters of property and bill payments in a letter than spend huge amounts of money on telephone calls.” Privacy is an issue but she trusts Bharatmail not to violate the policy. “What I like about their service is they are courteous, prompt and very patient!” Right now smitten by voice mail, Srinivasan also seems open to using this service if offered by the Indian Postal Service…
Muddasir Qazi stationed in the UAE also seems very enthusiastic about the efforts of the Postal department, saying that he would definitely give it a shot! “It is an essential service which has been well provided by Bharatmail and it has made communicating home easier and more frequent. It’s not a chore anymore to post letters and besides, it is a free service! My brothers, sister and brother-in-law also communicate using the same service and find it very efficient and reliable!”
As for Colonel Sadasivam, Post Master at Pune, he refuses to think of the Internet as a threat to sales or future plans. “It would be a threat to us if we refused to change. But we have.” Capitalising on the core competence of the Indian Post - the post offices within reach and door delivery, Sadasivam is using the benefit of speed offered by emails to his advantage. “Today, the Internet and email account facility are limited only to those who have the internet connectivity or telephones. Both these groups account for less than five per cent of the population. So the internet is not a threat to us, instead it is an opportunity to extend our services wider.”
Currently, eight lakh mails are handled daily by 700 post offices in the Pune region. “For the pilot project, we are hoping to connect 500 odd mail stations. Besides, efficiency would improve as instead of two centers of sorting out mail physically, there will now be only place where this mail would need to be manually sorted.”