Book Speed Post through State Bank of India (SBI) ATM

The original article was published in Times of India on 04.05.2015

In an effort to save time and avoid cumbersome processes, the Andhra Pradesh Circle of India Post, is mulling to launch a new initiative of sending letters and parcels through 'Speed Post' from automated teller machines (ATMs).

The postal department will tie-up with State Bank of India (SBI) to launch this new facility. The postal department has tied-up with SBI for post office savings bank (POSB) ATM and launched it in Vijayawada recently. At present, SBI has allotted 95 ATMs in Andhra Pradesh to avail the facility.

Explaining on the way the system would work, chief postmaster general, Andhra Pradesh circle, B V Sudhakar said a customer intending to send a Speed Post has to visit a nearby SBI ATM instead of the local post office and carry out a less than two-minute transaction to send the letter or article.

Once at the ATM, the customer has to choose the option of speed booking. Later, the letter/parcel, which the customer intends to send, has to be weighed with a separate weighing plate attached to the ATM. Immediately, the necessary fee will be displayed on the ATM screen which the customer will have to pay using his credit/debit card. Within seconds, the customer would get two bar-coded receipts. One receipt has to be pasted on the letter/parcel, while the customer will keep the second receipt for record purpose. After completion of the process, the customer has to drop the letter/parcel in a designated box at the ATM.

"Postmen, who clear letters and parcels through 'Nanyatha' system, will visit SBI ATMs and clear the letter boxes and forwarded it to the section concerned to deliver them to the receivers," the postal official said.

"As SBI has become our partner in sharing postal services, we have moved a new proposal Speed Post booking through their ATMs. A high-level meeting with officials of SBI regional office, Hyderabad, was held last week to discuss the modalities of the new facility. SBI, in turn, has offered to develop special software to book letters and parcels through their ATMs," Sudhakar told TOI.

Currently, over 6,000 letters and parcels were being booked through post offices in Greater Hyderabad. "We are planning to launch the new system in the next three months in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh," he added.

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