Of snail mail, India Post and their peculiar pricing policy.

During one of my usual declutter-the-home sessions last weekend, I came across a pack of postcards, which I never got around to sending out to anyone. These were printed by the
Kerala Hydel Tourism Centre and had nice photographs of Kerala on them.

As I went through them, I felt that I could actually use them, instead of trashing them.
Yeah, yeah, I know, this is how the junk stays back, till you come across it during the next session of decluttering.

Anyway, I think it would be a good idea to send them out to my nieces and some other kids
that I know. For one, they would like the idea of postal mail coming addressed to them and
also in an age when postal mail is being sort of pushed into obsolesence by email, it would be
a nice idea to let them know of how we communicated pre-email.

So, I dust up the postcards and look for postage stamps to affix on them. And that is when I remember that I have no idea what denomination stamp to use. The official postcards issued
by the Post Office come pre-stamped and costs you all of 50 paise (half a Rupee, which would
be a little more than one cent (US), at today's conversion rates). Yes, that is all you need to
pen a few lines and send to anyone living in any corner of India.

But then, this is a highly subsidised service provided by the government for the benefit of the poor. And to ensure that this subsidy is not misused, the postal service put in place various
rules which would keep any other type of postcard from this low tariff. One apt example would be what is called 'competition postcards' in India. These are the ones that you use to write to
TV show producers, to submit entries or to answer silly questions which are supposed to win
you big money.

Since my postcards do not fall in either category, I have no idea of what stamp to affix. So, I
walk to the post office near my home, to be told that it would need a Rs.6 stamp. And that is when I start wondering what the guys at India Post were smoking when they came up with
the brilliant idea of requiring a Rs.6 stamp for a postcard.

Reason being that a normal sealed envelope weighing upto 20gms needs only a Rs.5 stamp,
which means I can put the postcard in an envelope, send it out and not only save a buck, but
also ensure that privacy is assured, because the envelope is sealed.

Or even better, if I send out the card in an envelope that is not sealed (called Book Post in
postal jargon), it needs only a Rs.4 stamp, thus saving me 2 bucks per card sent out. But in
this case, there would be no privacy.

But, if I send out the card as-is, without any privacy and with chances of damage during its transit and by the elements, I need to dish out more. Hmm. Strange logic, to say the least.

Anyway, am not complaining. Instead I would just Book Post them and be glad that it reaches the kids the way I sent it and for 2 bucks less per card. And since I anyway recycle envelopes that I receive in the mail, not only do I not need to pay for envelopes, but can also be happy
that I did my bit for the environment by reducing paper usage, which would mean that many less trees felled.