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No more standing in the long queues at the Post Office with Self Booking Kiosk at India Post or an online Postal Service at your doors.

Bengaluru, Oct 29 : State-run India Post unveiled a digital post box in this tech city for sending registered letters and parcels through speed post at any time of the day or night as it operates 24×7, an official said on Thursday.

An automatic Self Booking Kiosk at India Post, the first such in the country, became operational at the Museum Road Post Office on Wednesday. It does away with any human contact, apart from being environment-friendly by saving printed paper.

Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka Postal Circle, Sharada Sampath told TNIE, “This is a prototype rolled out in Bengaluru and completely eliminates human contact, and will keep everyone safe from the infection.”

Explaining the salient features of the hi-tech kiosk, Kiran said the digital box would help customers to avoid waiting for their turn in long queues to send letters or parcels at counters in post offices across the city.

How to use:

Step 1: A customer has to first download the ‘smart post kiosk’ app from Google Play or the website of the Karnataka postal circle. A 6-digit numeric code will be generated on the customer’s smart phone after keying in address of the sender and receiver of the letter/parcel to be sent by registered post or speed post.

Step 2: The customer has to upload the pre-filled addresses in the kiosk using the code and select the mode of sending – by registered post or speed post.

Step 3: The kiosk will generate a bar code sticker for the cover or parcel, which has to be affixed on it (package) and scanned on the kiosk screen. On scanning, the kiosk’s flap opens to drop the cover or parcel in it. The kiosk screen will also display details such as weight, distance of the receiver’s address and the charges to be paid for sending the package.

Step 4: Customers can pay the charges through UPI (Unified Payment Interface) like Google Pay, Amazon Pay or any bank app by scanning the QR (Quick Response) code displayed on the kiosk screen.

The kiosk will generate a receipt on receiving the payment with details of the parcel to be sent to the receiver. The customer will also get the receipt on his/her mobile number and e-mail id if given while registering for the digital service.

The digital kiosk also avoids human contact in Covid pandemic times and saves on using paper for receipt.

“The digital post box or smart post kiosk has been installed at our Museum Road post office in the city centre to facilitate customers send letters and parcels up to 2kg by registered post or speed post during day or night,” postal officer Madhu Kiran told IANS here.

S D Sudarsan, executive director, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), said, “It is another step towards Digital India. Registered and Speed Post can be booked using the Smart Post Kiosk app, and payment is digital. It responds to three languages now — English, Hindi and Kannada. We plan to incorporate more languages when we develop it for postal divisions across the country.”

She said the next such kiosk would be installed in the High Court premises, and depending on the response, would be extended to other locations.