Mail system

Mail system First-class mail, viz., post cards, inland letter cards and envelopes, are given air lift, without any surcharge, between stations connected by air. Second-class mail, viz., book packets, registered newspapers and peri­odicals are carried by surface transport, Le., trains, buses and other means.

Local mail is segmented from non-local mail in order to ensure a dedicated mail transmission system catering to the special customer needs. For prioritisation in transmis­sion non-local mail is further segmented as: household mail, official mail, corporate mail, patrika and periodical mail, packets and parcel. First-class household and official mails have been identified as priority mail.

The following mail channels have been introduced in cities and larger towns.

Rajdhani channel This channel was introduced in 1994 for transmission of mail from Delhi to six state capitals. The remaining state capitals were covered by August 1995. The Rajdhani channel aims at catering to mails emanating from Delhi and meant for the state capitals and vice versa. Yellow­coloured letter boxes have been installed for such letters.

Metro channel This channel was also introduced in 1994 to handle inter-metro first-class mail between Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. In these cities light blue-coloured letter boxes have been installed especially for such letters.

Green channel Special arrangements exist in all major cities for expeditious delivery of 10'cal mail through this system. Unregistered first-class mail emanating from a town and meant for delivery within that town are delivered the next day of posting. Green letter boxes are installed at selected post offices and at other public places for posting the local mail. The main objective of this channel is to segregate the local mail for its speedy processing and expeditious delivery.

Business channel Business channel comprises first-class unregistered letter mail posted by corporate bodies includ­ing government and semi-government institutions at the counter of a designated post office or a mail office. If the quantum to be mailed at a time exceeds 2,000, it is required to be pre-sorted by the customer based on the local parameters of the place of posting.

Bulk mail channel Postings exceeding 250 articles in case of registered mail or 2,000 pieces of unregistered mail are called bulk mail postings. Bulk mail has to be necessarily pre-sorted in registered bundles (for registered mail) and labelled bundles (for unregistered mail) as per the specified sorting pattern. There are designated post-offices called corporate post offices which are authorised to accept bulk mail.

Periodical channel This is a separate channel to ensure speedy transmission of newspapers and periodicals which are time-sensitive and are posted in bulk. This channel is operated in metro cities and major towns where heavy volume of such mail is received.