Your New Postman - Drone by SingPost

It is sometimes remarkable to see new technology being applied to old school services, and in this case, an UAV aka drone delivering our letters. I guess hard-copy snail mail could be considered an old tech of communication in this world of instant messaging. So it is interesting to read about how SingPost successfully done a test trial to use drone to deliver letters (and a packet containing T-shirt) from Lorong Halus to Pulau Ubin.

I guess it is inevitable that technology will be used to improve productivity, and in this case, shortening the time needed to deliver mails and packets from the main island to Pulau Ubin. Via conventional methods, i.e. the postman taking a ferry, the actuakl delivery would take much longer compared to a 5 mins trip by this drone over 2.3km.

As a stamp collector, I am interested to know if special post marks, i.e. cancellation, would be used for such means of delivery? In the past, mails delivered via special means, e.g. hot air balloons, would have their own unique marks. It will be quite cool to have a drone shape cancellation mark on my envelopes.

For those interested to see how the entire process happened, with a special interview from SingPost, you could catch their video below (SingPost posted on YouTube):

Yes this is currently just a trial that was successfully conducted in the beginning of October 2015, where SingPost tested the idea with IDA, as well as with special approvals from the various authorities. Maybe in the not too distance future, this way of delivering letters would be common. I look forward to the day when a drone delivers letters to my house but hmm it is unlikely I guess, since I stayed in a HDB with the cluster of locked letterboxes.

New Definitives - Pond Life from SingPost

We have had sea creatures, birds etc as our stamp definitives, and now it is the turn of our pond plants! This time round the Yellow Burhead and Water Lettuce will be the 1st and 2nd Local of the series.

 

The definitives form part of the green environment theme (see news about it), and personally I think it is a fun way of telling our kids about these pond plants, which I bet they don't see that often anymore in our concrete jungle. No I don't think they are endangered in any ways. Water lettuce a.k.a Pistia is actually quite common around the world (see wiki). In fact these 2 pond plants are viewed by some as troublesome invasive species (see pdf)!

Yes the definitives stamps of Yellow Burhead and Water Lettuce are released by SingPost today - 12 March 2012, and it's a pity I haven't got a chance to grab hold of them yet.

SingPost - Our Profitable Postal Operator

Well, the recent financial turmoils around the world highlighted the difficult stages that many companies faced. So it was not surprising when I read about the financial difficulties of many postal companies. Postal companies are the important players in the development of the philately for the country. They are the parties who design and print stamps (including stamp errors which the collectors love), and operate / develop the postal system, which in turn created many interesting developments of philately worth (e.g. postal codes changes). Their "healthy" existence is necessary for the local philately scene. But 'healthy' is not a word to describe many of these companies.

In Canada, the ( info from - Canada's Unions "Mail Aggression": page 36 of The Economist 2nd July 2011 Edition." the Canadians post fewer letters than they once did (same for Singaporeans) and Canada Post has avoided obsolescence by encouraging the growth of "direct" (junk) mail, which now accounts for almost a quarter of its revenue. When the dispute in Canada began, their National Post newspaper ran the headline "Canada Post Strike: Will We Even Notice?" That is a sad headline for the postal operator.

Similarly for US, (info from Bloomberg Businessweek 30 May 2011 Edition), US Postal Service, i.e. USPS is losing money at the tune of -13.58%. The health of the postal operator would definitely cause worries for the 570+k employees of USPS.

So these examples drew my attention to our own Singapore operator, SingPost. Singapore's postal market has been liberalised for a couple of years now, i.e. Singapore has more than 1 postal operator. IDA (the postal regulator) listed 5 operators (incl SingPost) on its website, including DHL, Fuji Xerox and Swiss Post. An interesting point about the postal liberalisation is that it created more postmarks due to the entrance of new players. I've also received letters from other non-listed couriers. With competition, how's our SingPost doing?

Apparently very well! SingPost reported profit of S$34.8 millions for Q4 FY 2010 / 2011, and they have been giving out dividends for the shareholders. I believe that some of these growth come from direct mails, i.e. junk mails, that we received in our letterboxes. Earlier articles about the USPS and Canada Post revealed that direct mails are now important revenue growth for these companies, and I think it is likewise for SingPost.

This means in future I'll likely continue to receive more junk mails (or faced increasing cost for the stamps), and I wonder if one day junk mail will become a recognised element of the philately development for a country? Scary... nonetheless if that is necessary so that our local postal operator SingPost can survive in this new digital online world, I guess receiving junk mail is but a small price to pay. Don't you think so? :)

SingPost Registered Article Delivery - Not At Home

What happens when there is a delivery of registered article to your place and there is no one at home? Well, SingPost will still have options for you to receive the article. 

SingPost will leave a note (see the picture below) informing the recipient that there was an unsuccessful delivery.

Within the notice, SingPost will leave three options for the recipient:

a) Go to the stated Post Office and collect the article at the next working day; or

b) Request to collect the article at another Post Office (2 days upon receipt of this request); or

c) Request for another delivery to the original stated address (i.e. to your house) at 1 working day after the request

Give a call to SingPost (1605) if you wish to activate option b or c.

The notice has 'evolved' over the years. It used to be just a tiny slip of paper requesting the recipient to go down to a particular Post Office. Guess postal services have evolved for the better over time.

What Happens When You Post a Letter Without Stating Address

I was tidying some stamps pile and envelopes, and came across this envelope that I kept from some time ago. This is a pretty interesting envelope, and gives a good indication of what will happen when you post a letter in Singapore without stating any address.

I am guessing that the cancellation machine will still cancel the stamp, and the envelope will get stuck when the machines try to sort out where to post the letter.

Luckily in this case the envelope has the address of the sender (in this case it's the SPM!), and the letter was sent back, with a mark that says 'Return to Sender Received without address.'

Post on Wheels @ Changi Airport

I was at the Changi Airport T3 departure when I saw this nice red eye-catching buggy / van like postal service. Imagine having a postal van in the airport itself!

So yes I snapped a few photos of it. Seems like the postal buggy / van will roam Terminal 1 & 3 of Changi Airport at different timings. Wonder if they have any special cancellations for the stamps purchase at the venue. :)

The funny thing about this whole postal setup is that there is actually a mascot for it. The mascot is a postbox modelled after the old style circular / tubular type, with a name of 'PoWee' I think. I am guessing that PoWee stands for Post on Wheels.

SingPost Returned Mail Sticker

Ever wonder what happens if your mail / letter doesn't reach the addressee or that the address written is wrong? In such cases, the postman can't deliver the letter and the letter is returned. I also know of incidents when recipients would write a 'wrong person' and dumped the mail into the letterbox and it gets returned to the sender if the sender's address is written.

Here's a sticker on the letter (picture below) that couldn't reach the intended addressee. SingPost will tick on the correct box to let the sender know the reason for failing to deliver the letter. I remember that we used to have 'cancellation' type of returned mail instead of a sticker, i.e. it is a stamped mark with reasons. I guess a sticker is easier for the postman handling the returned mail.

SingPost's MyStamp - Hello Kitty & The Stars

I was walking past the post office at night and saw these cute displays at the glass windows. It seems SingPost has recently release the Hello Kitty and The Stars MyStamp Collection to celebrate Hello Kitty’s 35th anniversary. These stamps are released from 18 Mar 2009 and here is a picture of the cute looking stamps.

The set is selling at $68.00 with the 12 horoscopes in sheets and encased in a hard album. There is also the pop up effect for the centre page as shown below. The set up is clearly targetting at kids or Hello Kitty fans.

Collectors can also buy the Hello Kitty MyHoroscope MyStamp in a single sheet featuring one horoscope at $5 or a complete set of single sheets of 12 horoscopes at $60. SingPost has also thrown in a special Hello Kitty 4GB USB thumbdrive that I understand is a limited colelction item, and it will only be available from 30 Mar 2009.

I guess it is pretty clear this release is targetted at niche audience, and possibly non-stamps collectors? Personally I think the cuteness of these pictures does not really match with the stamp collecting theme and look somewhat too commercial. It reminded me of the Hello Kitty toys craze some years ago where people queued overnight to buy Hello Kitty soft toys from MacDonald. Oh well, different people collect stamps for different reasons.

Flora & Fauna 2007 Definitives from SingPost

I've recently obtained the collector's sheet for the 6th June 2007 'Flora & Fauna' definitives. Here's a picture of the definitive set.

The values of the stamps are: Flowers: 1st Local, 2nd Local,
Birds: 5 cents, 20 cents, 30 cents, 45 cents, 50 cents, 55 cents, 65 cents, 80 cents,
Animals (civet cat, monkey, pangolin, and squirrel): $1.10, $2, $5 and $10.

The entire set cost over $20, which is primarily because of the $10 stamp inside the definitive set. I used to not buy such sets because the $10 stamp was considered 'more expensive', and end up years later I have to auction for these stamps when I get older. Here's a photo of one of the other definitive sets, some of which I bought from online auctions (i.e. the definitive set concerning tourism).

History of the Postal Codes in Singapore

With advancement of the postal system and increase in postal addresses, Singapore had changed the postal system over the years. The postal code system is critical for fast sorting of mails, which is why during festivities, the postal operator will often remind people to put the correct postal codes, e.g. a reminder in the form of postal cancellation "Use the Correct Postal Code".

Back in 1950, Singapore only used a 2 digit postal codes to denote the 28 postal districts. This remained until 1979, when a 4 digits postal code system was introduced. The postal districts remained, with the 2 digits of the postal districts forming the first part of the 4 digits system, and the other half (i.e. remaining 2 digits) denoted the new postal sectors. As a result of the postal districts system, many properties in Singapore continued to be characterised by their original postal districts, and some districts obviously fetched a higher price compared to others. An example to illustrate this change: a housing with a previous district code of 09 could have a postal code of 0928 after the changed, i.e. the housing is located within postal sector 28. Housing in district 9 can fetch a very good price!

In September 1995, the 4 digits system was deemed as inefficient to allow for faster sorting of mails and packets. Thus a 6 digits system was introduced. The postal district part was dropped, and the postal sector part remained to form the first half of the 6 digits system. Using the previous example, the new postal code could be 280112. A '0' was added to the postal sector in cases of public housing. In cases when the building is commercial or industrial, another number would replace the '0'. For example, Ngee Ann City in Singapore has a postal code of 238872, a '8' instead of a '0'.

In cases of public housing (i.e. HDB flats), the last 3 digits are typically the housing block number. So if you lived in blk 112, then number 112 would form the last 3 digits under the new postal system. The current system seems alright to cope with the new demand of postal letters sorting. Looking at the years difference between past changes (1950 - 1979 = 29 years & 1979 - 1995 = 16 years) , and it has been 13 years since the last change, I do wonder how long can the system cope before we need to enlarge it to a 8 digits system.

Universal Postal Union & Singapore

According to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) website, Singapore has been re-elected to be a member of the 40 members strong Postal Operations Council. This may be somewhat dry for some stamp collectors, but I feel that it forms part of our postal history and is worth a mention. The election is part of the 2008 UPU Congress recently held in Geneva.

Singapore has been a member of the UPU for the longest time, and we have some old stamps (some before independence - 1965) from back then.

For those who are interested, UPU is a specialised agency under the United Nations, formed in 1874, that deals with postal matters for the member countries of UN. The headquarters is at Berne, and here's a postcard of the place.

DC Comics Super Heroes on SingPost's MyStamps

SingPost's MyStamps is going to feature DC Comics Super Heroes, e.g. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. I think I see Green Lantern and Aquaman also. The MyStamps will come in a comic like booklet that features scenes from the respective comics. The different stamp values range from S$0.26 to S$1.10 or you can get the the entire set for S$39.90. SingPost has also put in a comic style carrier bag with A2-sized full-colour poster featuring all the DC Super Heroes with every purchase. The sets will be available from 16 June 16 to 3 October at the 62 or so SingPost offices. Of course, you can also place orders via the online portal vPost.

SingPost also included a lucky draw for buyers to win a trip for two to New York, and an exclusive visit to DC Comics’ headquarters. The lucky draw is till 31 August only though.

But course it's a MyStamps set and not really a stamp issue, I'm not sure if I would buy the set... heh. These stamps featuring Super Heroes are not new. A couple of US Stamps already have these heroes on them, e.g. this USPS set in 2006.

SingPost Magnet Stamps - 8th March 2000

Wonder if anyone still remembers the series of fridge magnets with SingPost stamps as the pictures? Here's a picture of one of them.

The series is the 8th March 2000 "Postal Landmarks" comprising of 4 stamps: NVI, $0.60, $1 and $2. There are also Miniature Sheet and Presentation Pack.

Personally I think it is a smart idea that SingPost released the fridge magnets. Thus whenever anyone passes by the fridge, they will see the SingPost stamps and remembers SingPost. Good prolong advertising strategy!

IOC & Singapore Stamps (2004 & 2005)

With all the fervor about coming Olympics in Beijing, I can't help but notice that Singapore stamps too have some parts to play in the IOC history.

In Prix Olympia 2004, SingPost won the award for the most original stamp issued for the Athens 2004 Olympics Summer Games (see page 2 of this document). The stamps are shown below, and there is a short write-up accompanying the stamps in the 2004 yearbook. The award was presented by the IOC to SingPost during the 2005 session.

In 2005 we have the stamps series on the 117th IOC (International Olympic Committee) itself. Personally I prefer the 2004 design to the 2005 ones. The 2005 ones look a bit commercial somehow. Well, wonder if there will be stamps design for the 2008 Olympics, and also the Youth Olympics in 2010? Should have I would think. Let's hope the designs are good.