1

Abbreviation Used in the Paper

DG Director General

DHL Dalsey Hillblom Lynn

DSPS Divisional Superintendent Postal Services

EMO Electronic Money Orders

EMTTS Express Mail Trace & Trace System

GPO General Post Office

NFIS National Financial Inclusion Strategy

PLI Postal Life Insurance

PMG Post Master General

PPO Pakistan Post Office

PPOD Pakistan Post Office Department

TCS Tranzum Courier Service

UMO Urgent Money Orders

UMS Urgent Mail Service

1. Introduction

1.1 Historical Background:

Pakistan Post Office Department was established as a service department under Post

Office Act 1898. It is headed by the Director General (DG) (Auditor- General of Pakistan, 2019-

20). Government Post Office is one of the oldest government departments in the Sub-Continent.

The Government Savings Bank Act of 1873 allowed for the creation of postal savings banks

across the subcontinent. Postal life insurance was started for employees in 1884. The actual act

that formalized and set up the postal service in India actually came later, under the Post Office

Act of 1898. These two acts form the backbone of all Post laws and policies in India, Bangladesh

and Pakistan (Masooma, 2020).

In 1947, it began functioning as the Department of Post & Telegraph. In 1962, it was

separated from the Telegraph Department and began working as an independent entity,

connected to the Ministry of Communications (Auditor- General of Pakistan, 2019-20). In

2002, an autonomous High Powered Postal Services Management Board has been established

through Pakistan Postal Services Management Board Ordinance. Each Circle is headed by a

Postmaster General and the Postmasters General are assisted by the Regional Deputy

Postmasters General and Unit Officers at operational level. (Pakistan Post Office, n.d.) Since

2008, it is working under the administrative control of Ministry of Postal Service. The policy

planning is consigned in a high-powered Management Board headed by a Chairman who is also

the Director General of the Department. Executive Management of Postal and allied services

below the Directorate General is done at three levels that is The Circle, The Regional and
 3

Divisional Levels. A Postmaster General heads each Circle (WAFAQI MOHTASIB

(OMBUDSMAN)’S ).

A small network of barely 3,000+ post offices has expanded into more than 13,000

post offices across the country. Pakistan Post is providing delivery services to about 20 million

households and businesses as community service without any cost considerations. On behalf of

Federal and Provincial Governments, Pakistan Post also performs agency functions like

Collection of taxes and Utility Bills (Zameen.com, n.d.) PPOD also performs the functions of

Postal Life Insurance (PLI) as agent of the Ministry of the Finance management by two General

Manager based at Lahore and Karachi. (Auditor- General of Pakistan, 2019-20)

Pakistan Post Office Department consists of 8 Circles, each headed by a Postmaster

General, based at Quetta, Karachi, Hyderabad, Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and

Peshawar and 7 Regions, each headed by Deputy Postmaster General, at Sukkur, Faisalabad,

Sialkot, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, Abbottabad and Dera Ismail. Khan (DIK). There are 83 GPOs and

54 DSPS reporting to Post Master General (PMG) and PMGs/Dy. These GPOs administer

11,496 sub and branch post offices. The Department has a human resource of 47,348 officers and

staff. (Auditor- General of Pakistan, 2019-20)

Pakistan’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) was launched in 2015 when

financial inclusion was lacking (Masooma, 2020).

1.2 Literature Review:

Pakistan Postal services play an important in the social and economic development of the

country. The primary function of Pakistan postal offices is provision of postal services i.e.,
 4

delivery of physical items like mails, couriers, documents, packages, postcards, letters, parcels

etc. between consumers and payments of money orders. Pakistan post office has also been

providing services such as freight forwarding, fast courier and logistics since years and with the

passage of time, Post office has evolved and now also provides variety of services such as Postal

Life Insurance, Pakistan Post Savings Bank, and many more (Zameen.com, n.d.). It performs

various functions including handling of saving bank accounts and schemes, disbursement of

pensions, collection of utility bills, and disbursement of money orders etc., on the behalf of

various departments (AUDITOR-GENERAL OF PAKISTAN, 2019-20). The Pakistan Post

Office's postal services are categorized into four categories i.e., domestic, urgent mail,

international mail, and express mail.

Domestic postal services include mail, postcards, printed documents, textbooks,

registered letters and shipments. Pakistan Post provides a certificate of posting as a receipt on

consumer request. It also offers free braille literature transmission to the visually impaired both

locally and globally. If you're afraid to lose your valuable item, you may insure them before

delivering them. Consumers my consider the Urgent Mail Service (UMS) for overnight or the

next day delivery in Pakistan. Urgent Money Orders (UMO) or Electronic Money Orders (EMO)

throughout Pakistan are transmitted using the Express Post network.

People uses international services for sending packages and their charges range depends

on the destination and weight of the parcel. People also use this service to send letters and paper

mail worldwide.

Pakistan Post Office has introduced Express Mail services for overseas delivery. A
 5

maximum weight of 30 kilos can be delivered via this service. Moreover, military pension

payment and international money are transferred via Western Union as part of its financial

services.

The Express Mail Trace & Trace System (EMTTS) website offers two basic options that

allows consumers to track their items. For this, sender has to enter tracking ID and he will

receive all pertinent order information in seconds. Pakistan Post's Android app is also launched

which functions in a similar way (Zameen.com, n.d.).

Pakistan Post is as old as Japan, has population size of Brazil, has financial inclusion

goals like India, and have private banks willing for partnership like Russia and theoretically in

our best cases scenario could be successful like China (Masooma, 2020)

Ombudsman Office has received approximately 200 public complaints against the PPOD

in recent months. A major issue is the cross-checking and verification of claims' legitimacy.

There were many complains of GPO in past. Like Short delivery of parcels, Non receipt of

payment against Value Payable Parcels, Delay in preparing/finalizing deceased claim, cases of

the saving accounts/certificates etc. Causes of these complains were inefficient staff and lack of

professional knowledge, the procedure of profits since 2008 itself is outdated, lack of full

computerization, shortage of trained staff, lack of efficient supervision system, Inordinate delay

in resolution of complaints (WAFAQI MOHTASIB (OMBUDSMAN)’S ). However, with the

advent of technology and modernization, Pakistan Post Office is facing daunting challenges for

staying ahead from its competitor. Lack of knowledge of modern technology and traditional

management practices by employees are major obstacles in implementing new techniques and
 6

growth of the organization. Employees are not responsive to the modern-day changes and are not

receptive to training and gaining the knowledge of technology. As a result, private sector

companies like Dalsey Hillblom Lynn (DHL),Tranzum Courier Service (TCS) and Leopard are

capturing major market share from Pakistan Post (Athar Mansoor, 2011). This paper aims to

highlight the efforts of Government of Pakistan in development of Pakistan Post Office and

intend to conduct the research about the challenges employees are facing after the development.

Also, not much research has been conducted on postal sector in Pakistan. This paper intends to

contribute limited research on Pakistan Postal Services.

1.3 Problem Statement:

This study will be focusing on impact of technology advancement and the employee

efficiency level of Pakistan Post Office (also known as (GPO) General post office). How training

and skill development can improve the efficiency of Pakistan post office’s employees to cop up

the current technology.

Pakistan post office is unable to provide the adequate technology training programs after

installation of advance technology, in order to enhance the efficiency and capability of their

employees which will directly affect the overall performance of the sector.

1.4 Objectives:

The objectives in carrying out this study to be accomplish the following;

 To explore issues and determine the importance of training and development of

employees after any technology change and its impact on the performance.


 7

 To determine the root causes or deficiencies whether it is about the fund’s constraints or

lack of training staff in the training centers.

 To analyze the loop wholes which are being affected the most due to lack of training.

 To make some recommendation on the basis of findings after data analysis.

References

Athar Mansoor, N. N. (2011). Organization Development in Public Sector: The Case of Pakistan

Post. Lahore: ResearchaGate.

AUDITOR-GENERAL OF PAKISTAN. (2019-20). AUDIT REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS OF

PAKISTAN POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

Masooma, M. A. (2020, August 1). Will the post office be able to improve financial inclusion in

Pakistan? Retrieved from Profit: https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/08/01/will-the-

post-office-be-able-to-improve-financial-inclusion-in-pakistan/

Pakistan Post Office. (n.d.). Pakistan Post., from Pakistan Post Office:

https://www.pakpost.gov.pk/about.php

WAFAQI MOHTASIB (OMBUDSMAN)’S . (n.d.). REPORT BY THE COMMITTEE

CONSTITUTED TO . Retrieved from Wafaqi Mohtasib:

https://mohtasib.gov.pk/SiteImage/Downloads/WMS%20Committee%20report/POST-

OFFICE.pdf

Zameen.com. (n.d.). History of Pakistan Post. Retrieved march 29, 2022, from Zameenblog:

https://www.zameen.com/blog/pakistan-post-office-overview.html#History-of-Pakistan-

Post
8