The government-owned organisation, Vietnam Post, has piloted the Post Smart automatic delivery cabinet model in 40 post offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The move is part of efforts to minimise the risk of COVID-19 spreading. This is the first time a model like this has been applied in postal delivery activities in Vietnam.
According to a news report, Post Smart allows customers to get their parcels at any time using their smartphones. The process takes only a few minutes without requiring direct contact with postal staff. Le Quoc Anh, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Post, noted that the application of Post Smart is an obvious trend of the retail sector and e-commerce activities in the digital era. The Vietnam Post is working to complete its process of automatic delivery to meet customers’ demands.
Currently, 18 Post Smart cabinets have been installed in Hanoi and 22 in Ho Chi Minh City. The majority have been installed in central post offices, apartment buildings, trade centres, and office buildings. The Vietnam Post plans to expand the service in other localities across the country in the time to come.
Earlier in March, Vietnam Post launched an automated packages sorting system at its logistics centre. Using bar code reading and image analysing technologies, the system is able to sort packages based on addresses to the district, even communal level, with a capacity of handling tens of thousands of parcels each hour. As per a news report, the organisation has integrated the IT system with Vmap, a web-mapping application, and Vpostcode, a postal address code system. The sorting system helps to cut labour and improve productivity by tens of times, meeting all requirements of domestic and foreign clients.
It is also able to handle parcels with different weights, shapes, and sizes. Apart from the sorting system, the centre has also put into service new tools and equipment to standardise the entire process, thus absolutely keeping parcels safe during the delivery. The modernisation initiatives will better serve customers and catch up with a growth rate of over 30% of domestic delivery services. Le Minh Trung, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Council, said the postal service has joined efforts to step up administrative reform. He highlighted the importance of rolling out public services, saying digital transformation in the sector would promote e-commerce and logistics and a digital economy and society.
In Vietnam, the digital economy has been growing rapidly, supported by the well-developed telecom and IT foundation, high Internet coverage, and a huge number of Internet users. The country is located at the centre of the Southeast Asian region and is poised to be a global hub of digital technology and the digital economy. In 2020, the country kicked off a national digital transformation programme, under which the country aimed to renovate management and administration activities of the government, the production and business activities of enterprises, and the overall way of living and working. It also intended to develop a safe, humane, and wide digital environment. The national digital transformation programme also aimed to develop the digital government and economy and establish Vietnamese digital businesses with a global capacity.
