Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) and TAZ Technologies have inked a deal that will see postal items, mails and parcels originating from the Post Office delivered to the customer’s doorstep.
The partnership will see PCK integrated into the TAZ delivery system, named “Tap-A-Delivery” which is a real time e-commerce courier service app that collaborates with Uber and other logistics and taxi companies for last mile delivery across the country.
During the signing of the agreement, Dan Kagwe, the Postmaster General and CEO of PCK said the partnership was a culmination of past collaboration which anchored the launch of MPost, a digital postal service that saw Safaricom subscribers offered virtual post office boxes linked to their mobile phone numbers.
“To shore up our fortunes in a digitalized economy where mail volumes have plummeted, we are now leveraging on the advent of digital globalization through modern technologies and strategic partnerships,” said Mr Kagwe.
Under the agreement that birthed MPost, Taz Technologies offer the services of conversion of mobile phones to postal address numbers, alert notification, and mapping services to enable the delivery of mail.
“We have now a critical mass of MPost customers who have been requesting reliable last-mile delivery services. We went back to the drawing board and came up with this Tap-A-Delivery innovation that incorporates Posta and logistics companies such as Uber for efficient picks and drops of mails and parcels,” said Twahir Mohamed, CEO and founder of Taz Technologies.
MPost also comes in handy to those who wish to buy and ship items from overseas merchants like Amazon and AliExpress, among others. The digital post service hopes to leverage on over 40 million mobile users to deliver parcels and postal items while tracking them through the value chain.
Under the new partnership, PCK clients will also be able to schedule their deliveries for a later date, as well as plan for recurring deliveries. In addition, Tap-A-Delivery will incorporate a “scan and get delivery” feature aimed at getting traction from convenience stores and supermarkets across the country.
Mr Kagwe said the new frontier for the postal services sector is e-commerce and logistics, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic era where customers are keen to trade with minimal physical contact. With Tap-A-Delivery; the services will include physical delivery of mail to your doorstep, or mail pickup for delivery.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the rise of e-commerce has led to an impressive increase in the parcel segment volumes, often referred to as a “tsunami of parcels”.
Moving forward, said Kagwe, PCK will become more customer-centric and laser-focused with speedy delivery, costs management, and adapt quickly to a fast-paced and ever-changing world in order to grow new revenue streams.
