Versova Post Office

Cost of couriering some documents from Mumbai to Shanghai:
DHL: Rs. 2150
IndiaPost EMS (also known as SpeedPost) : Rs. 469

And yet most of us end up going for the first option (i.e. Private Shippers) instead of our government's own courier service. Most of us have an impression that visit to government offices is full of hassles - that even a small thing such as posting a letter would take lots of physical and mental energy - not to mention the bribes and forms and getting sent from desk to desk.

Well the truth is totally different altogether. There are proper procedures for getting any work done at a government office. Everything is well documented - only thing is that either most information is not available online or if it is, then its outdated/not organized properly. And since we don't know where else to get that information, we inevitably try to ease our lives by paying agents or avoiding government services altogether.

So being a good citizen, I would like share all that I learnt today at IndiaPost's Versova Sub post office:

• Number of postmen: 14
• Beats: 9
• First Deliver: 10:30
• Last Deliver: 14:30
• Versova Post Office Accepts Mahanagar Gas Bill Payment
• You can also submit Right To Information requests at this post office.
• They handle 11,000 articles of post every month.
• They are open till 13:00 everyday. If you visit before this time, your work would be definitely done.
• You can open savings accounts at post offices too!
  
• You can send couriers around the world using Express Mail Service (EMS / SpeedPost) thru this post office. You will be given a tracking number which you can track thru IndiaPost's website: http://www.indiapost.gov.in
• There are lots of general instructions/procedures made available on the website above. If you havent used post office's services before, please do have a look at their website. Of all the government websites, IndiaPost's seems to be the most informative: there is information about philately, saving accounts opening instructions & forms, speedpost price calculator, package tracking and documents describing the various general operating procedures of Post Offices across India.
• Finally here are pictures that I took of some notices at the versova post office:

So I hope this information helps anyone looking for it. Please do not hesitate to use our government's postage services. Once you get used to using them (which happens quite easily and quickly), you can reap the benefits by saving lots of money!

PS: Our government has a National Portal too: http://www.india.gov.in/
PPS: The page at: http://www.india.gov.in/howdo/index.php describes the instructions a citizen needs to follow to get any particular work done (e.g. apply for PAN card/ Passport). Maybe I was wrong. All info IS available online - we are just too lazy to look it up!!!!