PostSSI
 | |
| Type | Public Limited Company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Postal Delivery |
| Founded | 1612 AN |
| Headquarters | Joseph Town, South Sea Islands |
| Area served |
Prince Æthelstan Research Station |
PostSSI, formally known as the Royal Postal Service of the South Sea Islands, is the national postal service of the South Sea Islands. The service enjoys a state-sponsored monopoly on the delivery of letters and small packets in the whole natonal territory of the islands, while it also competes in the open market for the delivery of parcels.
Headquartered in Joseph Town, the international processing facility and largest sorting office is located at South Seas International Airport near Zuid-Richel. From there, light aircraft transport mail to other population centres twice per day, thereby facilitating a twice daily postal delivery service.
History
When founded, PostSSI was conceived as a government courier service, primarily tasked with rapidly delivering telegrams and official documents to local and other government officials throughout the islands.
For this purpose, the organization initially operated using horses and small clippers for traveling between the islands. As technology evolved the service sought to innovate, transitioning quickly to the use of light aircraft and small vans.
These innovations rapidly increased the capacity of the service, leading to the foundation of the Royal Postal Service of the South Sea Islands in 1612. The new service, in addition to maintaining its former governmental duties, began running telegrams for private companies and wealthy individuals. As mail capacity increased, the price of sending correspondence decreased, allowing more and more individuals to send written correspondence.
With twice daily deliveries to all settlements with a population exceeding 100, and daily deliveries everywhere else, the Royal Postal Service of the South Sea Islands prided itself in being able to deliver anywhere within the Commonwealth within 24 hours.
While the advent of the internet and affordable telephone and e-messaging services, notably those provided by Great Southern Utilities, the postal service saw a slump in demand for its traditional services. In response, the organization undertook a modernization, renaming itself PostSSI in the process. By branching out into email services, via the @Post.SSI domain, as well as banking and other services, the postal service managed to remain relevant in a changing world.
Service
Postal deliveries remain the most visible symbol of the company, with red and gold postboxes and delivery vans remaining a common sight across the South Sea Islands. As mentioned above, all major settlements retain a twice-daily postal delivery, with the first coming before 7am and the second between 6pm and 9pm.
Additionally, email, web hosting, banking and other services can be accessed online and at physical PostSSI locations, although the number of physical stores has decreased significantly over the past decade. Parcel delivery is also available, with access points typically being hosted by convenience stores and other third parties.
Funding
While PostSSI is nominally a private company, the Government of the South Sea Islands remains by far the biggest shareholder, and considerable state subsidies are provided to cover reforms and shortfalls in revenue. While this government support has been criticized for facilitating profligate spending, the service retains broad support amongst members of the Legislative Assembly as well as the public more generally.
Challenges
While the business has adapted to meet the challenges of declining volumes of traditional post (notably branching out into email), considerable challenges remain. Online service providers abroad and private rivals in the parcel delivery market are identified as the main challenges, as well as the viability of operating a service with such a small domestic market.
Proposed large-scale reforms to meet these challenges, such as automatic sorting machines and the use of drones for parcel delivery, have been met with considerable opposition among the employees of PostSSI.
