Personalized stamps cooler than selfie – PhlPost

MANILA, Philippines - What’s cooler than a “selfie” this summer?

A personalized stamp.

Philippine Postal Corp. (PhlPost) postmaster general Josefina de la Cruz yesterday said by the time the summer season starts next month, their personalized stamp issuing photo booths would have rolled out in some of the country’s international airports and tourist destinations.

The project is in coordination with the Department of Tourism (DOT), according to De la Cruz, since they are targeting tourists who would be spending their summer vacation in the Philippines.

She said they would make the photo booths initially available in Baguio City, Boracay, Chocolate Hills in Bohol and the Underground River in Palawan.

They also hope to do business during international conventions.

At the moment, there is only one photo booth at the PhlPost Central Office in Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila.

Costing P250 and measuring 30 mm x 40 mm, the personalized stamps would be in se-tenant format or two stamps joined together.

They can be used to mail letters or kept as souvenirs.

The personalized stamp is just one of three projects under the “Juan Click” program of PhlPost.

The two others are the Pinoy e-mail and the PhlPost mobile app for social pension payout.

“Yesterday’s launching of Juan Click is our simple way of proving that PhlPost is coming out of the dark ages into the digital era. You will see that we can deliver much more than mail and in different and excellent ways,” De la Cruz said.

The mobile app for social pension payout would be done in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“With the help of the mobile application, the DSWD would be able to weed out the ‘dead pensioners’,” De la Cruz said.

The DSWD provides a monthly stipend of P500 to indigent senior citizens who are 77 years old and above.

Since last year, PhlPost has been helping out in the DSWD’s conditional cash transfer program.

De la Cruz, however, said that starting next month, postmen would be using a mobile application that would enable them to quickly verify the beneficiaries’ identities and historical records.

This Friday, PhlPost and DSWD officials will meet to choose the pilot areas where they would test the mobile application.

“From the mobile application, the postmen could see the picture of the beneficiaries. They would have to give the money directly to the person,” De la Cruz said.

PhlPost would ask for a P100 delivery charge for every pension sent.

Meanwhile, through the Pinoy e-mail, philatelists based abroad and postal offices from other countries could order old and new PhlPost stamps through the Internet.

PhlPost also partnered with the Department of Trade and Industry to promote in the international market products from various localities in the Philippines.

De la Cruz said when customers avail of PhlPost services, they are guaranteed to receive their orders.