THREE lucky citizens in Georgetown will receive the first three of 100 free mailboxes to mount on their premises as the Guyana Post Office Corporation’s (GPOC) mailbox sensitisation campaign moves into high gear.

The three citizens reside in District ‘A’ which includes the city, and they were randomly selected, a release from the Ministry of Public Telecommunications said. The corporation’s country operations are divided into six districts, Areas ‘A’ to ‘F’, and the managers in all districts will randomly select recipients in coming weeks to receive free mailboxes.
The objective is to encourage every resident to install a mailbox on their premises, so that their mail could be delivered safely. The GPOC’s mailbox initiative was launched last February in response to the increasing number of returned mail to post offices all over the country. The main reason is the absence of mailboxes and sometimes the residents themselves, whenever the postal workers visit to deliver registered and regular mails.
According to Postmaster General Ms. Karen Brown, very often, even after five or six passes, the postal staff are still unable to deliver; this creates a financial burden on the postal service, since the mail must be put back into the system, re-sorted and/or stored and the addressees notified.

In order to ensure that citizens receive their letters, cheques, notices and bills from the NIS and other public sector agencies, the GPOC embarked on a countrywide mailbox campaign. It involves some collaboration with technical/vocational institutes in East and West Demerara, East and West Berbice and the Essequibo Coast; and it is still expected to encourage our youths and artisans to construct low- cost but functional mailboxes with any durable material such as PVC and metal sheeting. The presentation of the first three free mailboxes will take place at the Kitty Post Office, Alexander St., Kitty, today.