Declaring that the Barbados Postal Service must innovate in order to stay relevant, Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams is giving the assurance that Barbadians will soon be able to access a range of new services at the post office.
He made the comments during an official reopening ceremony of the renovated Belleplaine, St Andrew post office on Friday evening.
That post office was closed in March 2021 to facilitate the restoration and upgrade. Services will officially commence there on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, with a total of nine staff members – four postmen, one senior postman, an inspector, two postal clerks and one postmaster.
During the opening ceremony, which was attended by Acting Prime Minister Dr William Duguid and MP for St Andrew, and Acting Minister of Transport and Works Romel Springer, Abrahams said it was his wish to extend all services that were obtained at the General Post Office to the St Andrew post office.
“We intend that wherever the post office expands its ambit of services to the public of Barbados, where possible, we will do it here in St Andrew as well,” he announced.
Outlining his vision for the rural post office, Abrahams said it was his wish for it to offer a broad range of services that included various payments and parcel post.
“The postal service has to become more relevant in this era. Mail is being overtaken by e-mail and WhatsApp,” he acknowledged.
“The post office is not going to service as we envisioned the post office. It has to evolve to suit the needs of people. So it has to get involved in the offering of different services. Parcel post is one of the things we are concentrating on. Most post offices across the world have shifted their focus from letter delivery to the provision of financial or banking services and facilitation services.”
Adding that the Barbados Postal Service currently offers some bill payment services, Abrahams said he was in discussions for some limited banking services to be added.
“Whether that is in the form of a cash machine accessible at the post office that you could easily avail yourself of cash, or payment of any of the other services, all of that is going to be available to the people of St Andrew, right here from the post office,” he said, while insisting that it was his intention to ensure greater convenience and affordability for residents.
Noting that the reopening of the post office was long in coming, Abrahams admitted it was not an easy journey. He was not in a position to immediately say what the cost of the renovations were or if they were carried out within budget. (MM)
