The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) and the Postal Corporation of Jamaica (Post Corp) are in discussions about the establishment of a post office along with joint corporate student-centred initiatives at the university’s Papine campus. 

Senior executives of Post Corp and UTech recently had an exploratory meeting followed by a site tour of the proposed postal facility at the university on July 25.

During the meeting, UTech president Dr Kevin Brown shared his optimism about partnering with Post Corp.

“As a university, we are actively looking at our business model. That includes all the concessionaires on campus and so I am looking forward to hearing what you have to propose…not just for the post office, but in general,” he explained.

Both organisations identified the opportunity for a partnership with the Postal Corporation of Jamaica seeking to expand and modernise its postal service facilities across the island. For UTech, providing postal services redounds to improving its business plan to generate new streams of income, to boost the student experience and financial sustainability of the institution.

Through the partnership, Postal Corporation of Jamaica Limited will offer both traditional and modern premium services through Jamaica Post at UTech’s Papine Campus.

Post Corp is an entity of the Post and Telecommunications Department (Jamaica Post) and falls within the Office of the Prime Minister. The agency was established in 2000 to create profitability, modernisation and efficiency in Jamaica’s postal services.

Postmaster General Lincoln Allen welcomed the idea of a postal infrastructure at UTech. He noted that by leveraging the agency’s legacy, network and partnerships, Post Corp is aiming to cause a paradigm shift amongst competitors within the local and international postal service market.

“What we are trying to do is modernise the post,” Allen outlined.

That, he added, entails improving the physical infrastructure, enhancing customers’ perception and experience, and increasing the number of post office locations and services offered by the entity. 

In April this year, Prime Minister Andrew Holness stated that post offices across the country will freely serve as digital access points for citizens.

Against that backdrop, Allen shared, “We are putting Internet into many of these post offices because the Internet is going to be the backbone of the expansion.”

With this in mind, senior director Kevin McIndoe raised the proposal for the establishment of a Post Corp digital innovation lab at UTech.

“As part of our modernisation thrust, we are serious about improving our technology platform and we are interested in having talks with UTech to have a kind of innovation lab arrangement because a lot of our processes are manual now and in order to be competitive, we know we have to improve that so that they are seamless, omnichannel-type of technology infrastructure” he stated. 

“We believe that UTech can assist us through their programmers who are being trained here and you would have had that experience based on what you have done for other entities,” McIndoe further noted.

Both organisations will consult with their respective governing bodies to ensure compliance and due diligence and reconvene for further negotiations to advance the proposed partnership.