Ever want to send postcards to other countries — or even other parts of Myanmar — but find yourself hesitant to use the national postal system because, well, you don’t think your cards will actually arrive at their destination? Well, you might want to head over to Bogyoke Market and start stocking up on cards soon, as the government is attempting to revamp the national postal system.
The latest item on their agenda? Mailboxes.
Earlier this week, Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications unveiled their newest joint project with Japanese state-backed Japan Post Holdings: the replacement of 250 mailboxes across Naypyidaw, Mandalay, and Yangon.
The new boxes are more clearly marked, and are better designed to keep out trash (we see you, litterbugs) as well as keep mail dry from the rain (an important feature, some might say). Their shape and red color are also modeled after Japan’s own mailboxes.
But naturally, all of this development comes at a cost. According to the Nikkei Asian Review, replacing one box costs upward of US$5,000.
As a result, in addition to being shinier and more efficient, the new mailboxes will also be different from their predecessors in one major way: advertising space. To help finance the project, businesses will be able to buy advertisement space on the side of the boxes; that money will then go into building more mailboxes, which will then provide more ad space, and so on and so forth.
Authorities hope that the reduced cost of ads on mailboxes compared to those on billboards and TV commercials will be especially attractive to smaller businesses. In fact, according to one official, ad spaces have already been bought for 80% of the boxes, with 90% of customers being local businesses.
So far, over 100 mailboxes have already been replaced.
Kham Aung, MPT’s Managing Director, told the Japan Times that they plan to eventually replace all 1,381 mailboxes across the country.
Happy penpalling!
Reader Interactions