Craze for sending rakhis via post

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Jalandhar, August 1

As the festival of Raksha Bandhan is just around the corner and Jalandhar being an NRI-dominated region, the department of posts is witnessing a heavy rush at its parcel counters these days.

Women, men and even senior citizens have been queuing up at special parcel counters set up in the main post office here near Namdev chowk for the dispatch of rakhis and gifts to their siblings within India or abroad through registered post or speed post.

Speed post cheaper, better

For the past three years, I have been sending ‘rakhi’ to my brother in Australia via speed post. I prefer sending from the post office as private companies charge way too much for international parcels. Manmeet Kaur, a college student

Dept receiving a good response

The department is receiving a good response… as regards foreign destinations, the maximum number of ‘rakhi’ parcels is sent to Canada, followed by the US, Australia and New Zealand. Lakhwinder Singh, senior postman

Not just this, a special camp to parcel rakhis and related gifts is already underway at the post office, and special rakhi envelopes have also been made available at the camp so that visitors do not face any problem.

Manmeet Kaur, a college student, whose elder brother lives in Australia, said she was in the post office to send a rakhi, a shirt and sugar crystals to her brother. “For the past three years, I have been sending rakhi to my brother via speed post. I prefer sending from the post office as private companies charge way too much for international parcels,” she added.

Meanwhile, a few visitors at the post office also complained that they are forced to wait for a very long time in the queues owing to slow working of the staff at the parcel counters. “The work is very slow here. Many visitors are forced to wait for over one hour in the queue. They really need to set up either more counters or speed up the work,” said Ranjit Singh, a resident.

Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, Lakhwinder Singh, senior postman at the main post office said the department of posts was receiving a good response, and all the employees rendering their services at the special camp are trying their best to provide hassle-free service to the customers.

On being questioned that for those sending rakhi parcels abroad, which country tops the list of the sender, he replied it was observed that Canada was the most preferred destination, while America, Australia and New Zealand happened to be the other more sought-after destinations.

On visitors’ complaint of slow working, Lakhwinder said as it’s the peak season and almost all the post offices across India were witnessing a huge rush, the software they were working on gets slow due to heavy traffic, therefore, the customers had to wait sometimes.