Hire a postal locker to get online shopping goods delivered in Gurgaon

The Gurgaon division of the postal department has launched a first-of-its-kind postal locker service at the Udyog Vihar postal campus. The lockers can be hired at fee of `750 per year and used to store parcels, registered letters, gifts and goods purchased online.

The Gurgaon division of the postal department has launched a first-of-its-kind postal locker service at the Udyog Vihar postal campus. The lockers can be hired at fee of `750 per year and used to store parcels, registered letters, gifts and goods purchased online.

The new state-of-the-art Udyog Vihar post office is fully air-conditioned and has free WiFi, core banking, railway reservation counter and a postal shop. (HT FILE)

The service will particularly benefit the working population, who are mostly unavailable at home during the day to take delivery of these items.

The service is being launched for the first time in the country on a pilot basis. The difference between the numbered post-office box and postal lockers is that the post boxes can be used only by large companies and government organisations. The 100 postal lockers that are being offered by the postal department would be available to individuals as well.

Postmaster general, Gurgaon circle, Umesh Verma said only post cards and registered letters could be stored in numbered post boxes.

“But, the postal lockers can store parcels, gifts, letters, cards and everything sent through post . Only the passport service does not come in the ambit of this scheme. We have launched a pilot scheme for six months and on the very first day, there were nine applications,” Verma said.

Subscribers who rent a postal locker, will receive an SMS and a call from the postal department whenever they receive an item by post. These items can be collected from 8am to 6pm on working days.

Verma added if the response is good, the department might offer free delivery to subscribers on Sundays. If the scheme proves successful in Gurgaon, the department will prepare a viable model for the postal locker scheme and propose it at the national level so that the service can be offered across the country.

The postal department also held a meeting with various residents’ welfare association (RWA) representatives on Saturday. The department offered them free postal locker service in the societies if RWAs provided them space.

Earlier this month, the Udyog Vihar post office was revamped with the aim that postal services remain relevant and useful to the customers in an era of emails, social networking sites and mobile apps.

The new state-of-the-art post office has free WiFi, core banking, railway reservation counter and a postal shop in an air-conditioned hall. The post office is being managed by an all-women staff that has been specially trained for the job.Udyog Vihar post office is the first in the country where five counters out of six will offer banking and postal services at the same time.