Each year on 9 October, World Post Day is commemorated. The Thammasat University Library owns a number of books about postal delivery and postage stamps.

On 9 October 1874, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) was founded in Berne, Switzerland. The UPU is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. Most UPU documents and publications are available in the United Nations’ six official languages: French, English, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. As the UPU website explains:

With its 192 member countries, the UPU is the primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players. It  helps to ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services. In this way, the organization fulfils an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and provides technical assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail, parcel and financial services volumes and improve quality of service for customers.

Among UPU activities is an International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People.

Millions of international contestants, who must be aged 15 or younger, are invited to participate. All TU students who have younger sisters and brothers might alert to them to this opportunity to show their letter writing skills. The 2019 International Letter-Writing Competition for Young People was on the theme of writing a letter about your hero. Member countries participate by organizing a competition on the national level before sending their best entry to the UPU. Last year, the UPU Facebook page featured a letter by Heedayah Benkob, a 14-year-old Thai contestant, who wrote on the assigned theme for the 2018 competition: Imagine you are a letter travelling through time. What message do you wish to convey to your readers?

Past winners of the competition from the Kingdom have included Suphinda Phansingto, who placed third, winning a bronze medal, in 1986. 

Sustainable development

This year’s World Post Day focuses attention on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, such as resolving such problems as poverty, hunger, and inequality. Climate change is another challenge. According to the UN, postal services provide essential national and international infrastructure to make development possible. UN Secretary-General António Guterres notes in an online message,

• With more than 600,000 offices across the globe, the postal sector is one of the world’s largest logistical networks and a vital center of community life everywhere.
• This year’s observance of World Post Day highlights the sector’s value not just for delivering the mail, but for delivering good.
• Resilient postal systems offer support during natural disasters, financial services to hundreds of millions of people; and essential information in times of crises.
• This network, through its international treaties and emphasis on universal service, is a constant voice for multilateralism and force for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also promotes literacy and education for children.
• I encourage the world’s postal sector to continue its laudable efforts to advance progress for all and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Last year, Director General Bishar Abdirahman Hussein of the UPU stated:

• Every day around the globe, postal services make a difference in the lives of people and communities. By providing affordable, trusted and reliable communication services to all, the Post is delivering good to the world.
• The more than 600,000 postal outlets globally are used by private citizens and businesses to send letters, parcels and remittances, and also to conduct financial transactions and philatelic activities, even in some of the world’s remotest places.
• Communities everywhere rely on the Post’s unparalleled physical delivery network for its traditional services and to achieve their broad development goals.
• Driven by its universal service obligation, the Post promotes social inclusion by striving to ensure that all citizens have access to its communication services, including people living in remote places, on isolated islands, and in disaster-prone areas. The Post also promotes financial inclusion by providing financial services to millions of unbanked individuals, as well as affordable and secure remittance services for migrants. For many people, the Post is the only channel for vital education, health and security information.
• In the current digital age, the Post has positioned itself as a major player in global e-commerce. Its “one global network” approach makes the Post an obvious delivery partner for businesses selling online. Customers choose to do business with the Post based on its track record of being trustworthy, reliable and affordable.
• Small and medium-sized businesses seeking to expand into international markets can turn to the Post as an easy and affordable channel for export. With a resilient supply chain that incorporates cross-border security and customs facilitation, the Post offers exporters a one-stop-shop experience.
• Even for the big e-commerce integrators, the Post is the best partner for last-mile delivery services. This is because the Post not only has the largest physical network even within individual countries, but is also the only reliable service for delivery to remote and marginalized communities. The Post is a true partner for all…
• The Post has delivered good to the world for centuries – through the trusted postmen and postwomen in each community. As we mark World Post Day today, let us celebrate trust, reliability and security as the hallmark of postal services worldwide.

 

Thailand and postal delivery

TU students know that the modern history of extensive Thai postal delivery dates back to the reign of HM King Rama V.

As the Thailand Post website observes,

The Thai postal service traces its origins back to the reign of King Chulalongkorn (RamaV), when the royal government established the Post Office Department and issued the country’s first set of stamps (“Solos”) and the very first postcards. The department and these initial products provided support for the growth of this budding new service. From the very start, the Thai postal service and all the people responsible for it have been intent on improving operations and expanding its range of services. Numerous projects have been implemented over the years. One of the earliest ones was to join the Universal Postal Union, enabling Thailand’s postal services to ship and receive mail to and from abroad. Employees were given special education and training to prepare them for work at the Post Office Department. Eventually, a postal and communications school was set up specifically for post office personnel, and a second post office building was constructed. Despite the turmoil that has shaken the country at different times in its history, the Post Office Department was never deterred from carrying out its mission to serve the Thai public. Even at the height of World War II, the Post and Telegraph Department operated without interruption, as ensuring the smooth flow of communications has always been seen as paramount.

Today, Thailand Post Company Limited includes over 1,200 post offices and 16 postal centers in Bangkok and other areas.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)