NEWCASTLE – Post Office branches across the country recently cleaned house.
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On August 31, one day shy of Spring Day, staff from branches including Utrecht and Dannhauser, embarked on a spring clean of their respective facilities.
Armed with mops and brooms, they were eager to make a fresh start.
Post Office Area Manager, Africa Mhlanzi said, “The clean and fresh branches will enable customers to see and experience the new and revitalised Post Office for themselves.”
Beyond this, the idea of a national spring clean tied in part into celebrations of the Post Office’s recent breakthroughs, in what management called ‘a new era of customer centricity and profitability’.
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This referred to the South Africa Reserve Bank’s approval of a first-level application for Postbank to receive a banking licence.
“The next and final level should be completed within 12 months, as per the legislative requirement.”
Post Office service delivery and income were largely affected by labour unrest and strikes in recent years, Mr Mhlanzi added.
Thus, the second aspect worthy of celebration was the signing of a joint agreement with the recognised trade unions to settle wages and conditions of employment for this period.
This has been hailed as finality to historical labour issues, and a herald of a new era of stability.
A third milestone celebrated by staff, was the conclusion of an agreement with financial institutions, which gives the Post Office capitalisation to pay off its debts, and relaunch services from a solid base.
“The Post Office is expanding its services to include offerings such as registered email, which has the same legal validity as paper-based registered mail. It will also soon launch more services to make the postal service more suitable as a partner to e-commerce companies,” Mr Mhlanzi concluded. “One such service will be a smartphone app, which customers can use to check where there parcel is in the mail delivery system.”