It costs over Rs 7 to deliver a letter by the department of posts
22 Jun, 2014Reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed interesting statistics about the finances of the postal department. The reply indicates that the postal department does not maintain an annual profit and loss account and instead an annual statement of the allocation of expenditure and revenue to around 30 services is being maintained. The Department of Posts is running a huge loss on account of its emphasis on service to the society where the commercial considerations take a backseat.
Post card
· the revenue earned from the sale of postcards was 50 paise per piece.
· the total cost incurred by the government to keep the service running, the per unit cost came to Rs. 7.18 in 2012-13. In 2010-11, the cost was much higher at Rs. 7.50 per unit.
Printed Post card
· the revenue earned from the sale of printed postcards was Rs. 6 per piece
· the cost incurred on running the service of the printed post card was Rs. 7.19 per unit in the year 2012-13.
Letter card
· the total cost of a letter card incurred by the postal department was Rs. 7.18 per unit whereas the revenue earned from it was Rs. 2.50 only.
Registered newspapers
· the per unit cost for a single dispatch was Rs. 10.59 and the cost for sending newspaper bundles is Rs. 20.79 while the revenue earned was 59 paise for single and Rs. 1.63 for bundled dispatches.
Insurance
· The postal department offers insurance at Rs. 55.24 per unit, while the cost to the department was Rs. 141.82 during 2012-13. In case of dispatch of a book packet, the cost to the department was Rs. 9.51 while revenue earned was merely Rs. 2.90.