Postal service fêtes retirees
THE INCREASED focus on staff development and welfare in the postal service has once again created a favourable spin-off – a formal thank-you celebration to the many hard workers who have helped develop and sustain the organisation.

Postal Service Delivers ‘Harry Potter’ to Eager Customers Worldwide
Information received through the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) corporate communications unit indicates that the harmony between the global postal service and ‘e-shoppers’ is at an all time high.

Postal Service Sports Club Launches its ‘Summer Rally’
Apart from the usual prevailing excitement prior to the much anticipated launch of the Post and Telecommunications Department’s Sports Club’s ‘Summer Rally’, there was heightened anxiety awaiting the revelation of the ‘dress parade’ winner and an address by the Guest Speaker, two of many elements being introduced to ‘spice things up’ this year.

Exhibition and Sale of ‘Abolition’ Postage Stamps, Books This Saturday
The public is invited to view an exhibition on the Trans-Atlantic Trade in Africans, and purchase recently released (June 2007) postage stamps highlighting the Abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Trade in Africans.

Scouting Postage Stamps Released Today
To mark the centenary of the foundation of the Scouting movement worldwide, and to commemorate this event, the Jamaican postal service released four postage stamps and a Souvenir Sheet at a ceremony held on Monday July 9, 2007, at the Scouting Association’s headquarters.

Postal Service presents Cricket World Cup 2007 Stamps to Jamaica Trade & Invest
Jamaica Trade and Invest (JTI) was recently highlighted by the postal service for its role in generate creative Jamaican designs that inspire investment. JTI, an agency within the same Ministry as the postal service – Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce – received a framed set of officially licensed Cricket World Cup 2007 postage stamps.

Jamaica Trade & Invest receives CWC souvenirs
JAMAICA TRADE and Invest (JTI) was recently lauded by the postal service for its role in generating creative Jamaican designs that inspire investment.

CWC stamps make great souvenirs for collectors
THE JAMAICAN postal administration released its Cricket World Cup 2007 series on Wednesday, February 28.

Global Parcel, Letter Volumes Trending upwards.
Based on analyses of the world postal statistics for 2006 published by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), globally, l etter volumes are showing growth that could not truly be stated as a 'surge', but the increase is encouraging. Notably, parcel volumes continue to climb and postal services' revenues are also up.
These three major trends are noteworthy and of value to business interests, as mail communications in a global perspective is a good indicator of the sustained relevance of this communications format, and provides the business world with a tool for estimating the vibrancy of inter-continental, regional and national commerce.

A Listing of Jamaica Post's Services
We have prepared a list indicating the variety of services (by category) showing how we can assist customers. This allows you, the customer, to realise the numerous ways that Jamaica Post provides solutions to your needs. Choose services from our core business focus - mail communications - to supplementary communications involving elements of e-commerce facilitated by information communications technology (ICT).

Letter Box MUST be at your Gate for delivery
Deputy Postmaster General (Administration), Mrs Glennamoe McNabb, is 'talking tough' regarding the long-standing need for postal service customers to have a letter box installed at their gate to receive mail.
The postal executive indicated that the previous stance of a plea for conformity has now shifted to a policy decision. She stated: "The postal service, being mindful of our mandate to deliver to the address - and by that I mean at the gate, not the front porch or the receptionist's desk - is seeking to effectively perform its communications role while protecting team members.

Delivery by Christmas Day? Go Guaranteed!
'Tis the season of good cheer, and to ensure that you stand a good chance of having your Christmas day message or gift being delivered before the special day, post it before it's really too late.
Note that the postal service is used to getting this 'mad rush', and has put plans in place to accommodate the expected surge in mail, but unless you send it by a time-guaranteed mail service it is possible that it may not reach in time. Want to ensure that it reaches? Then go with the expedited mail services that provide a delivery deadline: guaranteed! Locally: use Zip Mail or Zip Courier. For overseas items, send via DHL, our corporate partner.

Today's Post Office: Not just 'your usual' Mail Delivery
Jamaica Post's core business is facilitating mail communications, and in that regard has established a range of services that enables individuals and organisations to keep in touch and exchange products and services, both locally and overseas. As a result of factors within the global environment, the Jamaican postal service is constantly enhancing its range of mail communications services. Modernisation has created new and novel ways to add value for customers.

Mrs Pamela Lee-Blake (left) accepts an Express Mail Service (EMS) package from a customer at the Liguanea Post Office in this file photo. Given the usually large mail volume at this time of year the Postal Service suggests that if it is vital to have your mail item delivered within a specific time, then it is best to use one of their time-guaranteed mail products: Zip Mail or Zip Courier locally, and DHL for overseas. Although Express Mail Service (EMS) does not offer a time-guarantee for delivery it is expected to reach addresses in the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom within a week and you can track the EMS item on the Internet yourself at www.jamaicapost.gov.jm.

Christmas 2007 Stamps released
A new postage stamps series was released on Friday November 9, 2007, to herald the approaching Christmas season. This year, the floral design once again accented the stamps, but of the four stamps, three are orchids and the other - 'mountain pride' - is a unique flower. In his welcome, Vivian Crawford, Executive Director of the Institute of Jamaica , commended the postal service for highlighting and preserving many facets of Jamaica through the use of themes presented in postage stamps.

Guest speaker at the ceremony held in the Lecture Hall at the Institute of Jamaica in Kingston , Keith Goldson, spoke with passion of the dire need for the entire nation to protect the range of floral species that grow in special or even distinctive environments. He posited that elements such as soil type, elevation and climatic conditions directly affect the potential for any plant taken from its natural habitat to thrive elsewhere.

Jamaica Post now sells JUTC Smart Card (view pdf)
The Postal Corporation of Jamaica (Post Corp) provides sales of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company's (JUTC) Smart Card to its mutual customers. JUTC's Smart Card complements the suite of services available at select Post Corp locations.

Pensioner's Agent Must be Registered
There are times when a Government pensioner will find it inconvenient to visit the Post Office to collect his/her monthly pension. In such cases, the pensioner must appoint one specific person to act as an AGENT. The agent will be responsible for enchasing the pension voucher at the Post Office, but in order to facilitate this, he/she must be registered with the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

The 'Agent Application' form (available at any NIS office) is to be submitted in order for the appointment to take effect. It is quite easy to complete and asks for details such as the agent's and pensioner's name and contact details, as well as requires a witness to certify the declarations.

Note that the Post Office's Customer Service Representatives cannot process any pension voucher unless presented by the authorised agent or the pensioner.

Paymaster Awards Postal Corporation for Sales Growth, Customer Service
The Postal Corporation of Jamaica (Post Corp) and four Post Offices were lauded for their sterling contribution to Paymaster Jamaica 's growth and customer loyalty, at the Paymaster 10 th anniversary awards function held at the splendid Caymanas Golf and Country Club on Sunday, December 2, 2007.

Post Corp, along with the General Post Office ( Kingston ), Ocho Rios PO ( St Ann ), Port Antonio PO ( Portland ), Montego Bay #1 PO (St James), and May Pen PO (Clarendon), were among the celebrated sub-agents for Paymaster Ja. The event was the Paymaster Jamaica Limited 10 th Anniversary Luncheon and Awards held at the Caymanas Golf Club on Sunday December 2, 2007 that highlighted the Paymaster team's longest serving members. (more)

CSO/Norman Road Community Health Fair 2007
The Post and Telecommunications Department's health fair held at the Central Sorting Office in Kingston last Thursday, November 29, 2007. Tremendous emphasis was given to 'health' issues, but notwithstanding this focus, there were a few 'distractions' given the diverse range of activities and excellent product offerings. Testing was available for eyes, HIV, diabetes, cholesterol and other diagnostic tests, as well as medical screening and referrals - all FREE, thanks to title sponsors Blue Cross . The energy and synergy from the community was definitely in place as many persons from Norman Road and surrounding areas came to benefit from the opportunities for free medical checks and enjoyed the live outside broadcast on Nationwide Radio and entertainment.

REQUIRED ENVELOPE SIZE FOR REGISTERED MAIL


Customer Tip:
Preparing Your Mail Items
With the Christmas holidays so close, it is especially useful for customers to note that they must carefully prepare all mail, as this allows the postal service to fulfill its mandate for speedy, safe mail delivery. Please make note of these tips on how mail should be prepared to prevent mail dispatch problems.

Jamaica Post urges everyone to keep in touch and share the joy of the Holy Season by sending a Christmas Card to family, friends, teachers, customers, business associates and suppliers.

Special Postage Rates for Christmas Cards
Greeting Card customers:
We've once again provided special postage rates for this year's Christmas season if you send your Christmas Cards in unsealed envelopes within the specified dates: November 1 to December 24, 2007.

We encourage you to make your Christmas card purchases and start updating those lists now, then send Christmas cards to all those who you wish a wonderful holiday. Do it early so that you don't miss out on this 'deal'.

Mrs Liz Millman (standing, left) of City College , Birmingham , UK , displays one of the toys recently donated by the Priory Primary School , ( UK ), to the after-school 'play area' at the Central Sorting Office (CSO). Receiving on behalf of the postal service is Mrs Glennamoe McNabb (3 rd right), Deputy Postmaster General. This project; a short-term after-school care facility, was undertaken as part of the Human Resource Management Unit's wholistic approach to staff motivation by improving welfare aspects for postal workers. The donated toys will enhance the children's afternoon stay. Also in photo are Mrs Marcia McDonald (right), Welfare Officer, and the son of one of the City College staff members.

Registered Letter Book' Customers Must Note
As part of modernisation efforts the Jamaican Postal Administration has introduced barcoded labels to facilitate the tracking and tracing of registered items. Many customers operate a registered letter book service in which a member of the customer's staff enters the company's letters in a book with pre-designated numbers. These letters from the company are then taken to the Post Office for mailing. This saves processing time (read more)

Jamaica's Mail Tracking Advances Further With Barcoded Labels

The term 'High-Tech' is usually associated with some element of computer use, so it's not surprising that the new barcoded labels being introduced by the Jamaican Postal Administration for tracking Registered Letters utilise a digital format for data to be captured by a computerised scanner.

"Incorporating technology: that's the only way forward", says Postmaster General/CEO, Michael Gentles. He outlined that the background to this development was the result of on-going negotiations between the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and all member countries for the creation of a single data recording format to be used internationally for tracking specific mail items. Gentles indicated that "We will be implementing this barcoded label format for 'Registered Letters' as an element in advancing the pace of postal service modernisation. This computerised method presents significant advantages for reducing processing time and errors from manual data input, and will boost efficiency in this aspect of our service."

Christmas Stamps to be Launched on Friday

The public is invited to the official launch of Postage Stamps for this year’s Christmas series, to be held at the Institute of Jamaica, 10 East Street, Kingston, on Friday November 9, 2007, at 10am.

The event highlights a few of the varieties of Jamaica’s unique flowers, some of which are endemic to the island. Among the invitees will be representatives from organisations within the horticultural and agricultural industries as well as a variety of business interests.

Please note that for this occasion, access to the Institute of Jamaica building will be via the Tower Street entrance.

...World Post Week highlights - photos + captions:

• World t Week Church Service, Sunday Oct 7, 2007:
• World Post Day Festivities at May Pen PO on Tue Oct 9, 2007
• Minister Clive Mullings' First Visit to the Central Sorting Office on a familarisation tour Thursday Oct 11, 2007
  
  Philately Corner
  The Centenary of Scouting (1907 - 2007) stamps released on July 9 to mark the foundation of the Scouting movement worldwide consists of four postage stamps and a Souvenir Sheet.
  Although founded in 1907 by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, Scouting came to Jamaica in 1910, with the first troop being started in Brown’s Town, St Ann, by the Rev J W Graham.
  
  The stamps are issued in the following denominations: $5.00, $10.00, $30.00, $50.00, $70.00 and $100.00. One exceptional design element is that the $50 and $100 stamps form part of the Souvenir Sheet which has as its background, a montage of an array of flags from a variety of countries and interlocked Scouts’ hands depicting the many races and countries involved in Scouting across the globe. Additionally, First Day Covers are available for $265.00, and a special Souvenir Sheet First Day Cover will also be offered at a price of $300.00.
  
  Sports Club ‘Summer Rally’ Finals on Friday
  After many weeks of competition in a number of sporting pursuits, it’s time to declare the winners of the Post and Telecommunications Department’s Sports Club’s (PTSC) ‘Summer Rally’. The awards ceremony is scheduled for this Friday August 24, at the Central Sorting Office (CSO), with the finals of the football competition preceding the awards function.
  
  TRN needed to send Parcels & Registered Mail overseas
  In a move to conform to Ministry of Finance regulations, the postal service now requires customers sending parcels and registered mail to overseas destinations to present their TAXPAYER REGISTRATION NUMBER (TRN).

  NOTICE
  ODDMAN LANE Residents:
  With effect from today, August 20, 2007, customers residing in the Oddman Lane community will need to visit the Grant’s Pen Post Office to receive their mail. This temporary suspension of mail service will continue until further notice. Jamaica Post apologises for any inconvenience that may arise from this decision and asks for your cooperation.

  Election Day Postal Notice
  Voter Registration Notices Distributed by Postal Service
  Everyone registered to vote in the upcoming election is being notified by mail of their voter registration status and the location of their respective polling station. The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) is distributing a postal notice to all registered voters in an effort to ensure that each registered voter is aware of the polling station to which he/she is enrolled. Jamaica Post is facilitating this communication process in association with the EOJ, so look out for your voter registration notice. Customers who get mail via general delivery are encouraged to keep checking at their post office.

  Sample of the Voter Registration notice being distributed by the postal service in association with the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ).

  International Postal News
  Postal Service Delivers ‘Harry Potter’ to Eager Customers Worldwide
  Information received through the Universal Postal Union’s (UPU) corporate communications unit indicates that the harmony between the global postal service and ‘e-shoppers’ is at an all time high. With millions of copies of the seventh and final ‘Harry Potter’ novel released for sale on July 21, 2007, those who placed their order by mail, phone or Internet and were eagerly looking out for their postman to deliver this much-anticipated book were not disappointed.

  Postal service stamps mark on abolition bicentenary
  The Gleaner June 18, 2007 Pg. B12
  It was a delightful event, interspersed with apposite reflections on the past, fascinating musings on the present, and with motivational expressions of intent and noteworthy challenges for the future.
  The launch of the postage stamp and philatelic souvenir ñ a first-day cover ñ to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic trade in Africans (1807-2007), held at the postal service headquarters, Central Sorting Office (CSO), on Thursday, June 7, was truly an occasion for reflection and forward thinking.
  
  Post offices put muscle into Labour Day
  A NUMBER of projects were undertaken at post offices in observance of Labour Day this year. The extent to which many communities supported their post office was indeed encouraging. Projects varied in scale, but they
  were predominantly clean-up or beautification campaigns. Postmaster at Ewarton P.O., Hyacinth Thorpe-Baker, was interviewed while busily scrubbing the metal screen mesh at that location’s Labour Day project.

  Post Corp has new stamp collection
  ARE YOU interested in the collection and study of postage stamps, postmarks, and related materials?whether new or old? The Jamaica Postal Corporation has added a new design and product to the face of its stamp
  collection. The stamp was displayed at its launch in commemoration of the
  bicentenary of the abolition of the Transatlantic trade in Africans to Jamaica (1807-2007) at the Central Sorting Office in Kingston.

  Lascelles, Post Corp partnering for growth
  IN MARKETING its ‘Magnum’ tonic wine via a promotion, Lascelles Wines and Spirits (Lascelles) has teamed up with the Postal Corporation of Jamaica (Post Corp), in that Post Corp handles a component of the customer response logistics.

  Express mail service to resume
  The Gleaner May 12, 2007 Pg. A4
  The Postal Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) will be resuming its express mail service next week Friday, following a two-week
  suspension.
  Gordon Brown, public relations officer for the PCJ, told The Gleaner yesterday that the agency was forced to suspend the service because of the unavailability of forms.

  Postal Coop retooled to boost customer service
  APART from its focus on providing members with a variety of financial products, the Postal Coop Credit Union that serves postal staff and their
  families is now able to boast of customer service improvements that will redound to the members’ benefit. Among the changes are: a remodelled waiting area, new computers and revised operational procedures that expedite processing time for members’ requests.

  Postal service curbing mail contraband
  BASED ON the trend of unscrupulous persons using mail to transport many
  types of contraband, the postal service is now even more vigilant in its analysis of mail items to detect such infringements and contain them.
  An electronic-wave security scanner – dubbed an ‘X-Ray’ machine in normal parlance – was recently put into service by Jamaica Post. It was acquired to facilitate the security forces in their scrutiny of mail items to boost the customary security screening operations.

  Carib integration lauded at CWC stamp launch
  THE JAMAICAN postal administration has seen significant response since it released its Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 postage stamps on February 28. In a ceremony to officially launch the Jamaican stamp series held at the
  PCJ Auditorium on Trafalgar Road, St. Andrew, on March 16, presentations of the set of stamps were made to Ambassador Courtney Walsh and ‘Collie’ Smith’s family (represented by Lindel Wright, brother of the late West Indies
  batsman), as well as the Jamaica Cricket Association and the National
  Library of Jamaica.

  World Cup traffic changes for CSO
  ALL CENTRAL Sorting Office (CSO) team members are to note that there
  will be changes to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic flows necessitated
  by the Cricket World Cup 2007 matches at Sabina Park in Kingston.
  Jamaica Post staff and customers are advised that in order to access the
  postal service headquarters – CSO – vehicles will be required to use
  Upper Elletson Road and then turn on to Norman Road. This arises from
  the closure of South Camp Road for the duration of cricket matches.

  Business model for further postal service modernisation
  POSTMASTER GENERAL/CEO Michael Gentles is pleased that corporate Jamaica has identified Jamaica Post as an entity worthy of pursuing mutually beneficial marketing ventures. In a statement to The Gleaner Company, Gentles expressed the view that the postal service can no longer be regarded as the same organisation as in its historical roots, given its immersion into a new organisational culture.

  Jamaica Post advances ‘business mail’ concept
  JAMAICA POST’S new approach to its business mail service – the
  Corporate Mailroom – is specifically targeted to volume-oriented business
  mail. In particular, the MegaMail service is proving to be quite useful to
  the target customer-business operators based on the sustained increase in business mail customers.

  Mail content restrictions
  CONGRATS TO the Jamaica Customs Department in celebrating Customs Week. That organisation is a vital partner in facilitating our mail
  communications mandate and so we have published these tips to help our mutual customers avoid problems with their mail.

  Committed to customer care
  The following is the New Year’s message by Postmaster General Michael Gentles, who is also chief executive officer of the Postal Corporation of Jamaica.
  THE NEW Year begins with my kudos to the postal team regarding their efficiency over the recent Christmas holiday. This results from a dedicated staff as well as our involvement in the Caribbean Postal Union’s special
  Christmas mail project. Thus, our global arrangements augur well as
  our core business is mail communications.
  
  ‘2k6 CSO health fair highlights’
  Published: 1 January 2007, The Gleaner

  ‘Mail that never gets there’
  Published: 12 February 2007, The Gleaner

  ‘Functions of the Post Corp board’
  Published: 19 February 2007, The Gleaner

   ‘Send the entire sheetlet, not just the stamp’
  Published: 2 April 2007, The Gleaner