New postal tracking system in the offing

THE CYPRUS postal service and telecommunication company CYTA have teamed up to develop a new vehicle tracking system to improve efficiency.

The system, has been piloted in 8 of the Postal Service’s 90 cars, and could eventually allow customers to trace the progress of a parcel online.

The Head of the Postal Service, Andreas Georgiou, said yesterday “This is the first initiative of its kind to be implemented by a government department”.

This technology has been used by companies such as DHL and Parcelforce to allow precise location of shipments anywhere in the world. It works by installing GPS devices into each vehicle, which then transmit data back to a head office. These can be monitored in real time or recorded for later viewing. In the ten days that the system has been running, it has proved to be a great success. “We have fitted the device to 8 cars to start with, and the results have been excellent.”

Georgiou noted that initially, the new technology will be used to identify areas of improvement in the postal network. “We can follow our cars’ route, see when a letter is delivered and identify problems. We can also collect historical data for analysis, which will improve the quality of our service”

Before the Postal Service installed the devices, they met with Post workers Union, the ombudsman for personnel and informed all of their employees. Asked whether this type of monitoring device was popular among staff, Georgiou said “These devices allow us to provide a better service. We have informed the union, and so there is no way for them to refuse.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.