To serve the public to the best of its ability has been the motto of state-owned PT Pos Indonesia ever since it was established. Therefore, PT Pos Indonesia keeps reorganizing and modernizing in every department, including in the use of information technology (IT) and the Internet in providing its services.
The competition from new courier companies and the advent of modern technologies, such as the Internet and mobile phones, have indeed affected the revenue of PT Pos Indonesia. However, such things have not dampened the spirit of the company's management to keep on competing for the sake of PT Pos Indonesia's entire existence.
In the era of globalization and the tough competition, PT Pos Indonesia with its expansive network across the country has made various effective breakthroughs on its strategy business unit (SBU) by establishing SBU in cargo and courier service.
"We have established cargo and courier services at PT Pos Indonesia. Although we are aware that there are already many companies in this business, we still see a lot of opportunity in this sector," said PT Pos Indonesia commercial and marketing manager Kunkun Kuntara.
He said almost 60 percent of PT Pos Indonesia's income came from cargo services, both domestic and regional. PT Pos Indonesia deals with both corporate cargo as well as retail cargo.
"Both are important to us, although many of our customers are corporations. Retail cargo is usually for people who are relocating," he said.
PT Pos Indonesia provides land, sea and air cargo services. International routes are also served by PT Pos Indonesia. For land cargo, PT Pos Indonesia has its own transportation fleet, while for sea and air cargo it cooperates with other companies.
To provide the best air cargo service, PT Pos Indonesia cooperates with a private company in the operation of two Boeing 373-900 cargo planes.
The cargo planes are for the delivery of consignments to eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi, Maluku, West Irian) and western Indonesia (Sumatra-Kalimantan).
Obviously, the two aircraft make delivery faster. PT Pos Indonesia also accepts consignments from foreign and domestic cargo and courier companies for delivery to western and eastern Indonesia. However, final delivery to a recipient is done by the foreign or domestic companies that initially received the order.
PT Pos Indonesia normally uses domestic airlines to carry consignments, but during Lebaran, Christmas and New Year due to the increased volume and to speed up delivery, PT Pos Indonesia cooperates with a third party for air cargo and courier service.
In the near future, should the volume of consignments increase further, PT Pos Indonesia, as the leading cargo and courier as well as postal company, will hire a number of additional aircraft for speedy delivery.
Among the various cargo services available are Point to Point, which is from the warehouse of the sender directly to the warehouse of the recipient at a negotiable rate.
Also available is Paketpos Optima, which has no its size or weight limit and includes insurance and document handling, all for a competitive rate.
Next to cargo, PT Pos Indonesia also relies on its courier service for revenue and profit.
"PT Pos Indonesia actually offers numerous services, such as financial and payments, but our core business is still courier and mail delivery," said Kunkun.
He said that he still felt optimistic about the future of the courier and mail service although the growth of SMS and the Internet has had an impact on business.
"Letters from individuals have decreased, but letters from companies have gone up in number," he said.
He said that to maximize the company's profits, PT Pos Indonesia had developed a superior service called System Online Payment Point (SOPP) for the online payment of electricity, telephone and water bills, car and motorcycle loans, tax, insurance, etc.
"To support this system, about 90 percent of our post offices are connected online," explained Kunkun.
PT Pos Indonesia recently launched a program called "Ayo ke Kantor Pos" (Let's go to the post office) to invite the public to visit the post office to find out about its products so that more customers would make use of PT Pos Indonesia's services.
"We are not the only player in this business, there are many other players," he added.
There are a number of factors to anticipate in the courier business, some of which are customer, people and operation, information technology, regulation and competition. Since its launch several years ago by PT Pos Indonesia, the Pos Express along with its motto "Quick, accurate and traceable" is expected to be able to anticipate market demand and changes.
