With the dawn of technologies such as internet and mobiles, the traditional mode of communication has perished from our lives. I still remember my father having a few post cards and antique stamps which he used to collect when he was young. People have upgraded themselves from writing post cards to sending e-mails and chatting on social networking sites. Why write letters when you can Skype someone and see them live.
With all these new technologies the traditional post office has faced a big setback. In an effort to revive the post office and also to make it modern National Public Postal Service of Singapore along with a Singapore based 3D printing solution provider named 3D Matters is rolling out the gen-next post offices which they prefer to call the SingPost Innovation Corner. These post offices are being opened to give the customers a seamless retail experience with the help of 3D printing technology. This innovation corner will aid individual customers and businesses to 3D print prototypes and models.
This post office can be seen in the Suntec City in Singapore, the best feature of these post offices is that they provide 24/7 auto lobbies that offer essential services to the customers. Not only Suntec City Post Office but many other post offices in Singapore will be undergoing a major revamping and remodeling in the next few years. These post offices will be fully equipped with features that promise to be customer centric such as user-friendly signage, packing desks for packing and preparing the packages for mailing and service ambassadors on hand during counter operating hours to help customers if they face any problems.
SingPost’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr Wolfgang Baier said: “Our new-generation customers are digitally-inclined, buying online and on-the-move and they expect a post office experience that is digitally integrated. To meet their changing lifestyle, we are basically remodeling our post offices, and transforming them into modern, efficient hubs to meet their e-commerce and digital needs. This includes 24/7 self-service lobbies with POP Station for them to post, collect or return parcels. Customers can look to us also for digital solutions such as tracking parcels, calculating postage or locating a post office through mobile. This integrated experience will also apply to other touch points such as SAM (Self-service Automated Machines) where they can access multiple platforms including smart phones, tablets, desktop and our physical kiosks.”
3DP Kiosks:
A pilot run of this post office has been done at the Suntec City Post office. The Innovation Corner at this post office provides the right platform for start-ups as well as young entrepreneurs to exhibit their ideas that could enhance and take the post office experience to the next level.
At the kiosk the items that can be 3D printed are limited. Users can 3D print themselves with the help of a face scanner that is available at the outlet. The charges for printing a pendant or a bangle is $19.90 whereas if you want to 3D print a full body figurine then the charges could scale up to $459. SingPost’s Vice-President for Post Office Products Services & Network Mr Elvin Too said, “Our customers’ needs are ever-changing. This innovation corner serves as a test bed for innovative new services that can be offered at post offices in the future, such as 3D printing. We are innovating for the future. Our customer needs are ever changing. This Innovation Corner serves as a test bed for innovative new services that can be offered at post offices in the future, such as 3D Printing. That way we can ensure the post office always offers services that are relevant to Singapore.”
Source: http://news.asiaone.com/news/digital1/go-3d-printing-new-singpost-outlet
