Ways Done in the Past - Postal Services (Part II)

Post Office Square, Singapore c 1880

 

General Post Office, Singapore  c  1890

General Post Office, Singapore  c  1900

 General Post Office, Singapore  c  1930

General Post Office, Singapore  c  1930

The view of General Post Office from Singapore River c 1940

General Post Office, Singapore  c  1940

Aerial view of the General Post Office, Singapore c 1950

General Post Office, Singapore c 1950

Singapore Post (SingPost) has a heritage dating back to the founding of Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. In those days, a single mail office collected and delivered the small volume of letters. It was located in the previous Parliament House and run by just three persons.

As trade flourished, both postal and marine traffic grew. The "Post Office", as it was known, became a separate department from the Marine Office in October 1858.

General Post Office, Singapore in 1966

Following independence on 9 August 1965, Singapore took over its own postal functions in stages and was admitted to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) on 8 January 1966. The Singapore Postal Services Department became a fully autonomous body on 1 January 1967.

Fullerton Building, the 'Grand Old Dame', was the site of the General Post Office (GPO) and was built between 1925 and 1928. An earlier GPO was demolished to make way for this building.

The novelist, Joseph Conrad, described this earlier post office as 'the most important post office in the East'.

The Sepoy Line Post Office c 1970, one of the earlier designed P.O.

In September 1998, the mail-sorting operations at Chai Chee moved to the Singapore Post Centre located along Eunos Road 8, which was purpose-built for mail processing and houses state-of-the-art mail-sorting technology.

The General Post Office, under Singapore Post, vacated the building in March 1996.

Fullerton Building into a hotel and building the two-storey commercial complex One Fullerton opposite Fullerton Road. Renovation works on the Fullerton Building were completed on 8 December 2000.

The Fullerton Hotel Singapore was officially opened on 1 January 2001.

Philatelic Services

 

The special commemorative stamps and First Day Covers for the Republic's 150th anniversary on 9 August, 1969 for sale at the General Post Office.

Sales of  commemorative stamps and First  Day Covers at the General Post Office in the 1970s.

Singapore Philatelic Museum   is located at the junction of Coleman Street and Armenian Street. It is easily accessible by public transport.

Photo Credit:  Dr Tan Wee Kiat of Retrevia

Dr Tan Wee Kiat is a retired lecturer from the National Institute of Education. He is a stamp enthusiast and is dedicated to using philately as a tool to educate our young. He has written 7 stamp-based  books for Singaporean youngsters.

 The related blog "Do away with postage stamps" was previously posted  here .

Ways done at present to process mail ...

In November 1983, the Mails and Parcels Centre moved from Nelson Road to bigger premises at Chai Chee Complex. 


 In September 1998, the mail-sorting operations at Chai Chee moved to the Singapore Post Centre located along Eunos Road 8, which was purpose-built for mail processing and houses state-of-the-art mail-sorting technology.

 While computerised sorting systems at the SingPost Mails and Parcels Centre with increased productivity,  speed and efficiency, the bulky articles and parcels have to be manually handled for delivery by the postmen.

Thank you, Mr Postman.

Email and other electronic messages on the Internet returned by the sender may bounce or tape-recorded phone messages as responsive as efficiently.  However, bulky articles and parcels could not be sent as email attachment.

The postal services of SingPost and manpower are required for delivery of bulky postal parcels by our hardworking and efficient postmen in Singapore.  The human resources of postal services in our post offices all over Singapore is a very important role to contribute to our nation.

The ways done for postal services in the past in Singapore may have been changed, computerised and replaced by the processing systems over the years,  the ways done for postal services today for courteous consumer services, skills and staff training to improve as a better organisation at SingPost.

SingPost Headquarters at Paya Lebar, Singapore

Photo Credit:  Dr Tan Wee Kiat of Retrievia

Singapore Post Centre (10 Eunos Rd 8), the 14-storey behemoth that serves as SingPost HQ, is at the heart of  Paya Lebar MRT station.

Singapore Post Limited or commonly known as (SingPost) is Singapore's designated Public Postal Licensee which provides domestic and international postal services. It also provides logistics services in the domestic market and global delivery services. SingPost also offers products and services including postal, agency and financial services through its post offices, Self-service Automated Machines (SAMs) and vPOST, its internet portal. Its headquarters is in Paya Lebar, Singapore.

Today, Singapore has 62 post offices, 299 Self-service Automated Machines (SAMs) and SAMPLUS, around 40 postal agencies and more than 800 licensed stamp vendors. There are also 8,907 posting boxes are installed at various locations throughout the island.


Previous Blog: Ways Done in the Past - Postal Services (Part I)