DESPITE INTERNET AND E-MAIL Post offices will still be around By MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN Staff Reporter

Millions of people all over the world communicate and negotiate transactions through fax and e-mail, but the futurologist Alvin Toffler may be wrong when he predicted that the cyber-communication network would push post offices into extinction.

Post offices will always be around offering the convenience of modern technology, says Saipan’s Postmaster John William San Nicolas.

Consider Saipan, for instance, which saw the need to build a new and bigger postal building to accommodate more customers and improve postal services. The new post office in Chalan Kanoa, located next to the old building, opened Monday.

“Our old post office was built 25 years ago. It was small and outdated. The population growth on Saipan has increased since the last couple of years. There’s too many people on this island for a small post office,” says San Nicolas.

Aside from the population growth, San Nicolas says, the construction of a new post office was prompted by the need to update its services in compliance with new standards set all over the world.

“We have automated lights. We have a bigger lobby and wider space where people can write and wait in convenience,” San Nicolas says. “The entire building has a centralized air-conditioned.”

The lobby of the post office will be opened 24 hours a day to allow customers to check their mail any time, San Nicolas says.

The new post office also has a bigger vending machine for envelopes, express mail, and stamps in different denominations.

“All the mail senders need is a writing paper,” San Nicolas said.

He says the old post office will soon be demolished and the lot would be converted into a parking area.

“The parking lot will have between 50 and 60 parking spaces. We expect it to be complied by the last week of November,” San Nicolas says.

The postmaster says the physical aspect of postal business is only one of the areas that need to be upgraded. The service, San Nicolas says, is equally significant especially amid the widespread use of Internet, e-mail, and fax machines.

“Internet and fax machines have taken some of our business. the volume of mail have substantially declined, and we suffer from that,” San Nicolas says.

This situation has prompted post offices to exert efforts to attract mail senders.

“We’re concentrating on big business that send out big volumes of mail. We offer them discounts and open permit accounts,” San Nicolas says.