THE MINISTRY of Industry, Commerce and Technology will be introducing a 24-hour premium mail service on June 1.
The Minister, Phillip Paulwell, admitted in the Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, that he had failed in attempting to make Jamaica the first country to introduce a 24-hour basic mail service.
He said that the service had to be restricted to three parishes, but was delivered over 90 per cent of the time. However, the cost made it difficult to continue.
Now, he says, he has decided on a new premium service, to commence on June 1, which will offer the 24-hour service for delivery of internal mail, but it would have to be at an additional cost to the users.
Mr. Paulwell said that the Government was seeking the private sector's partnership in introducing new technology to the over 700 post offices, because of their easy access to the population, to ensure that ordinary Jamaicans have access to the technology.
He said the post offices were already selling lotto tickets, but admitted that there were concerns among the churches, as well as postal workers, over the concept.
"Already we've had concerns raised by the Church and some of our employees and (I want) to say that we're not in any way going to violate anybody's rights or conscience in relation to the sale of lotto tickets," he said.
Mr. Paulwell added that no employee who was not willing to sell lotto tickets, would be victimised.
He said that the postal service was also moving towards implementing money transfers as a joint venture. An announcement is to be made soon on this development, he said.
