ENG-1994 — Page 421

COMMUNICATIONS AND THE MEDIA

Postal Services

In 1994, the Hong Kong Post Office handled 1 111 million mail items, or an average of three million items a day. This represented an increase of 7.5 per cent over 1993. Some 76 per cent of the items involved local mail and 24 per cent overseas mail. In all, 10 617 tonnes of letter mail and 5 097 tonnes of parcels were despatched abroad by air, representing a slight decrease of 0.5 per cent from 1993. Outward surface mail comprised 5 275 tonnes of letter mail and 3 080 tonnes of parcels, representing a decrease of 14.6 per cent from 1993.

The Post Office premium service, Speedpost, which provides door-to-door collection and delivery services for customers sending time-sensitive documents, samples or merchandise, continued to grow. In 1994, the Post Office handled 4.3 million Speedpost items, repre- senting an increase of 1.9 per cent over 1993. With a network covering 70 countries, the Hong Kong Post Office ranked third in the world in terms of Speedpost traffic, after the United States and Japan.

Major exchange partners in this service included China, Japan, the United States, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea.

A reliable and efficient postal service has been an important factor in Hong Kong's development as a leading commercial, financial and industrial centre. The Post Office provides two deliveries each weekday to commercial and industrial areas and one delivery to residential areas. Against performance targets of 98 per cent for delivery of letters, parcels and Speedpost, in 1994, 96.3 per cent of local letters were delivered within one working day after collection from a posting box or over post office counters; 99.9 per cent of air mail to overseas destinations was despatched within 24 hours of posting; 99.9 per cent of parcels were delivered to the addressees in urban areas within three working days or to the air-carrier by the following working day; 99.9 per cent of Speedpost items accepted before the specified latest time of posting were despatched overseas on the same day; and 100 per cent of incoming Speedpost items were delivered on the same day or the next working day.

During the year, one new post office, the Tseung Kwan O Post Office, was opened, bringing the total number of post offices in the territory to 124. On Ting Post Office was relocated due to local developments.

To further enhance efficiency and lower operational costs, the Post Office continued to introduce more mechanisation and automation in the counter and mail-handling processes. New electronic letter scales, which have proved to be a success since their introduction, were installed at more post offices to replace the mechanical equipment. At the year-end, 217 electronic letter scales had been installed in 63 major post offices. Also, the new electronic stamp vending machines, which are more convenient than the conventional mechanical machines, had been installed at 58 post offices.

A computerised Speedpost acceptance and accounting system was introduced in August. The system simplifies the acceptance procedures at counters and streamlines the accounting procedures. It also keeps track of the whereabouts of the accepted items.

To enable the public to get through the Post Office Telephone Enquiry Bureau more easily during busy periods of the day and to obtain replies to simple enquiries after normal office hours, an interactive voice-processing system was installed. All incoming enquiries made from touch-tone telephones are received automatically and the caller is given informa- tion by a digitised human voice.

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