President Ormsin Chivapruek said last week the state agency was studying the possibility of forging partnerships with foreign courier companies rather than trying to compete against them.

He added that the state agency's strength was its familiarity with the Thai people.Thailand Post was the postal unit of the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) before it was turned into a separate unit and privatised. CAT was later privatised as CAT Telecom.

Ormsin said Thailand Post was forecast to post revenues of Bt14.8 billion this year with net profit of Bt933 million, compared to revenues of Bt14.6 billion and net profit of Bt798 million last year.

About 72 per cent of revenue is derived from postal services, 12 per cent from retail services such as sales of stamps and consumer goods at its outlets, 7.9 per cent from money-order services and 8 per cent from express mail deliveries.

He said that last year the state agency had to earmark Bt690 million for its early-retirement programme.

Thailand Post plans to expand its delivery service to packages weighing over 20 kilograms and also to introduce a franchise scheme. The franchising plan is expected to be up and running in the next quarter.

"We are determining how revenue sharing between us and the franchises will operate," Ormsin said.

Some branches have extended their closing hours to 8pm from 4.30pm for the convenience of customers who are unable to get there during normal office hours.

In addition, Ormsin said, this year Thailand Post plans to spend Bt1 billion on upgrading its services and equipment.

Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation