Business Reply Speed Post (BRSP); India Post to a new field

With increasing popularization of e-commerce in India, a number of merchants/retail service providers have established a sizeable presence in the market who sell/retail their products through TV Channels /online catalogues to the customers.

In a number of cases it happens that after the delivery of the product to the customer, the customer is either not satisfied with the product received or the product is received in a damage condition etc. In such cases, merchants/retail service providers look forward to a service which enables the customer to send back the article to the merchant/retail service provider at no cost to the customer. In this context it is proposed to introduce “Business Reply Speed Post Article“(BRSP) as a new product.

1.         Eligibility Condition

       Any customer who is eligible to be defined as Speed Post bulk customer as provided in BD&M Dte. Memo no.57-02/2010-BD&MD dated 10 December, 2010 and who has entered into an agreement with the Department of Posts under the said memo would be eligible to send out Business Reply Speed Post Article.     Such merchant/retail service provider hereinafter would be referred to as client in this document.

2.         Application and approval

The client would identify the Delivery Post Office (to be hereinafter called Office of Delivery) from where he/she would get the delivery of or collect the Business Reply Speed Post articles that are returned by his/her customers.

 The  client  would  apply  for  opening  Business  Reply  Speed  Post  Account  in  the Application Form at Annex-‘A’ to the “Designated Authority” concerned defined as under:-

OFFICE OF DELIVERY DESIGNATED AUTHORITY

Sub Office                                         :           Division Head
HO/MDG (upto HSGI)                     :           Divisional Head
HO/GPO (Gr. ‘B’ & above)             :           Head of the Office
NSPC/State SPC (Gr. ‘B’ & above):          Manager
NSPC/State SPC (Below Gr. ‘B’)   : Divisional Head


The Designated Authority would scrutinize the application of the client and confirm the correctness of the information provided therein

The Designated Authority thereafter would forward the application to the Chief Postmaster General of the Circle concerned with recommendations.

The BRSP account numbers and BRSP bar code series are assigned to the Circles as per Annex-‘B’.

The Chief Postmaster General would approve/reject the application.    In case of approval, a BRSP Account no. would be assigned to the client by the Office of Chief Postmaster General.

Chief PMG would also allot a range of BRSP bar code series to the client.

Office  of  Chief  Postmaster  General  would  maintain  an  index  of  BRSP  Account numbers and BRSP bar code series allocation to the clients as per format at Annex-‘C’ for the purpose. Entry in the register will be authenticated by the AD/APMG concerned.


A copy of the application form (Annexure – ‘A’) carrying the decision of the Chief Postmaster General as well as the BRSP Account no. and BRSP bar code range if so allotted, would be sent by Office of Chief PMG to the Designated Authority. The application (Annex A) would be kept in guard file in chronological  orders in  the custody of AD/APMG concerned.

The Designated Authority would intimate the client accordingly, as per the format at Annex-‘D’.


3.         Booking of BRSP article

The customer, who wishes to send back the product received from the client, shall use the BRSP Label received along with the product for the purpose.

The customer shall affix the BRSP label on the secured parcel box that needs to be sent back to the client’s notified Office of Delivery.

The customer shall score off any other label, address etc. pasted or printed on the parcel box.

The customer shall bring the parcel box to his/her nearest computerized Speed Post Booking Office for booking.

The parcel box shall be booked under the category named “Business Reply Speed Post Article”.   The parcel box, hereinafter, would be referred to as BRSP article in this document.

At the time of booking the customer shall not be required to pay any charges to the post office.

The article shall be booked as BRSP article in the Point of Sale module of Meghdoot software by PA. A copy of receipt generated would be handed over the customer.

The booking post office shall generate a “BRSP booking label” and paste it on the BRSP label at the space provided for the purpose. The booking label shall carry the Speed Post postage due from the client.

The booking office shall note the weight of the BRSP article on the BRSP label at the space provided for the purpose.

The booking office shall further process and dispatch BRSP article as Speed Post article. Supervisor/SPM/PM will ensure that all of articles booked have been sent to destination for delivery.


4.         Return Delivery

The Office of Delivery as notified by the client shall receive the BRSP article for delivery to the client.

The PA at Office of Delivery shall maintain client wise account of receipt and delivery of BRSP articles as per the format at Annex-‘J’.

The  APM  Delivery  should  enter  the  Speed  Post  Charges  against  each  article  in Annex ‘J’ and put his signature against each entry on a daily basis. A daily summary will be prepared at the close of day indicated Opening balance, articles received for delivery, total articles delivered and closing balance. The summary will be signed by the Postmaster with reference to Articles in deposit.

An intimation to the client would be generated as per the format at Annex-‘K’. by PA of the Office of Delivery and will be given to the Postmen under receipt and would be delivered to the client by the postman concerned. The concerned delivery PA will check the intimation slip has been delivered or not.  The intimation will be served to the client under receipt by the Postman duly entered in a Book of Notices and “Intimation Delivered” to be maintained by the  Postman.  Date of delivery of intimation will be noted on the article by the Postman under his dated initials.

The BRSP   articles   would   be kept in the joint custody   of Asstt.  Postmaster(Delivery)/SPM & PA of Office of Delivery.

The client shall authorize his/her representatives to obtain delivery of BRSP articles for which he/she would apply in duplicate to the Head of the Office of Delivery in the format at Annex ‘L’. A copy of authorization letter would be forwarded to designated authority for record.

The Head of the Office of Delivery would accept the authorization after satisfying himself about genuineness and forward one copy to APM (Delivery).

On receipt of intimation from the Office of Delivery, the authorized representative of the client would present himself/herself at the Office of Delivery within seven calendar days of date of the intimation. (excluding the date of intimation) and obtain delivery of BRSP articles from APM (Delivery) by acknowledging receipt in the BRSP Account being maintained in the Office of Delivery as prescribed in Annex ‘J’. Any special arrangement for delivery of BRSP articles to the customer may be decided at Circle/Regional level as a business package.

If the BRSP article is not collected within seven calendar days from the date of issue of intimation, “demurrage charge” at the rate of Rs.3.00 per BRSP article per day for every additional day will be charged to the client till the date of delivery of BRSP article {e.g. if the date of issue of Intimation is 1 October, 2011 and date of delivery to client is 15 October, 2011, demurrage charges payable would be   Rs.21 – for 7 days i.e. from 9 October, 2011 to 15 October, 2011 both days inclusive (10 days x Rs.3.00) would be applicable}. The Speed Post Charges plus 20% handling charge thereon would be applicable on all BRSP articles received for delivery. A BRSP article would keep in deposit for a period of a maximum of 14 working days from the date of intimation. If the article would not be delivered within 14 working days, the Head of Circle is empowered to dispose-off the article.

Handling charges equivalent to 20% of the Speed Post charges (exclusive of taxes etc.) would apply in respect of processing of each BRSP article (plus ST as applicable).

The undelivered BRSP articles would be delivered on final settlement of the account of client either by payment or invoking of bank guarantee. In case the BRSP articles are still remain unclaimed after final settlement of account (through payment or invoking of bank guarantee), these BRSP articles would be sent to RLO.


5.         Billing and Payment

The bill will be prepared on a calendar monthly basis by the Office of Delivery in format at Annex ‘M’ and sent to Designated Officer. The bill will be prepared by the concerned PA and would be checked by the Supervisor.

No discount would be applicable on the notified Speed Post tariff.

The bill will be raised by the Designated Office by 15th day of the following month (Bill date) with the client after ensuring that amount of bill is correct.

The client shall pay the bill amount in full on or before 30 days from the date of issue of bill (Due Date) and intimate that particulars of payments to the Designated authority.   The   Post   Office   where   the   amount  of  bill  is  deposited   will   also communicate particulars of deposit to the Designated Authority immediately.
  
In case the client fails to make the payment by the due date, penalty at the rate of
10% per annum on the amount of the bill shall be imposed by the Department upon the defaulting client (to be calculated on a daily basis). The penalty will be imposed from the Bill date only on Speed Post charges (exclusive of taxes) and handling charges. (Illustration at Annex ‘N’)

No delivery of BRSP articles will be allowed to the defaulting client after one month from the due date of the payment of bill till all the pending bills along with the penalty due are paid in full to the Department. The undelivered BRSP articles will be kept in the custody of APM (Delivery) and will be handed over to the customer only when all dues are paid in full by the client.

In case of non-payment of bill even after 3 months from the bill date, action will be taken by designated authority for invoking the Bank Guarantee for recovery of the total outstanding amount.  The offices of billing would prepare a monthly statement account of Business Reply Speed Post articles and submit a copy to its Divisional office/ Reporting office with copy endorsed to Regional Postmaster General and Chief Postmaster General.

The same procedure of accounting will be adopted as in case of BNPL scheme for
Speed  Post  revenue,  handling  charges  &  service  tax  notified  vide  O.M  No.  57-
02/2010-BD&MD dated 10.12.2010 & 12.05.2011. Handling charges would be accounting for in Speed Post revenue head. The demurrage charges will be account for in Head                          .

The liability in case of delay in delivery of Speed Post Cash on Delivery articles and in event of loss of Speed Post Cash on Delivery article will be the same as notified in gazette notification No. GSR 40(E) dated 21st January, 1999 and given below:

In case of delay in delivery of Speed Post Cash on Delivery articles beyond the norms determined by the Department to be provided shall be equal to the composite Speed Post Charges Paid.
(b)        In the event of loss of domestic Speed Post Cash on Delivery article or loss of its contents or damage to the contents, compensation shall be double the amount of composite Speed Post charges paid or Rs. 1000 whichever is less.
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