The Department of Posts, functioning under the

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

Sri Lanka Post ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා තැපැල් ''Shri Lanka Tæpæl''), is a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

operated

postal system The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

in Sri Lanka. The postal headquarters is the General Post Office which is located in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

. The department itself comes under the purview of the Ministry of Information and Mass Media. It was formerly known as the ''Ceylon Post and Telecommunications Department'' and is one of the oldest Government departments in existence today. The head of the Sri Lanka Post is the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...

, currently Ranjith Ariyaratne. Assisting in administration there is a deputy Postmaster General in every province. Sri Lanka Post employs more than 22,000 employees in various positions to staff and support the 4738

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

s across the country.

History

Sri Lanka Post has a long history of 222 years, dating back to 1798, when the colonial Dutch rulers started five post offices in the Maritime Districts under their control. In 1799, they published the first postal regulations and postage rates. The

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

operated the Postal service, which was not meant for the public but for official use. The British took control of the country in 1815, when Egbert Bletterman was the Postmaster General for the whole island. Louis Sansoni succeeded Bletterman as the second Postmaster General in 1817. The third Postmaster General was Major G. Stewart, who extended the postal services to major towns in the country. They re-organised the postal service and others eventually established a permanent Post Office in Colombo in 1882.

Postage stamps

The only evidence of a British postal service before 1815 is a "Colombo Post Free" handstamp used on a soldier's letter in 1809, when British Royal Artillery troops were engaged to subdue Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the

king of Kandy The Kandyan monarchs ruled the Kingdom of Kandy on the island of Sri Lanka from 1469 to 1815. The Kingdom was first established by Senasammata Vikramabahu, a royal from the Kingdom of Kotte, when he led the secession of the Kande uda pas rata (� ...

(1798–1815), whose inland territory had never been under the influence of the Dutch. The first adhesive stamps (the six-pence purple-brown stamps on blued paper) were issued on 1 April 1857, seventeen years after Britain had introduced the adhesive postage stamp to the world. The first stamps in local denominations of rupees and cents were issued on 1 February 1892.

The General Post Office

The General Post Office was housed in different places in Colombo. By 1895 it acquired its own building, opposite the

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

's residence - the Queens's House on Queen's Street, currently the Janadhipath Mawatha (President's Street). During the disturbances in the country, the GPO was moved out of its former building and into the present Postal Headquarters. The new building, consisting of 9 floors of modern facilities, is the center of operations and administration. The Postal Museum, too, is housed in this building.

Transportation

Over the years, different modes of transport have been used for the transportation and delivery of mail. In a bygone era, delivery was first by foot (in the hills and remote places it is not uncommon to see postmen delivering letters on foot, even today!), then bicycles were added. Sri Lanka Post was the first to inaugurate a mail coach service in Asia. The mail coach service began operations in 1832, between

and

Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

. Gaveshaka, "Our Heritage"
Colombo, ''Sunday Times Online'', v. 1, No. 36 (4 Feb. 2007). This was extended between

Galle Galle ( si, ගාල්ල, translit=Gālla; ta, காலி, translit=Kāli) (formerly Point de Galle) is a major city in Sri Lanka, situated on the southwestern tip, from Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern ...

and Colombo in 1838. The year 1892 saw the first "Travelling Post Office" doing its run between Colombo and

Peradeniya Peradeniya ( si, පේරාදෙණිය, translit=Pēradeniya; ta, பேராதனை, translit=Pērātaṉai) is a suburb of the city of Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a m ...

, a suburb of Kandy. "Bedford" vans made in England were used, even during the '70s. Today Sri Lanka Post uses a fleet of Japanese vehicles painted in the traditional red. During the '50s and '60s postmen on British made BSA - Bantam motorcycles were a familiar sight. When the postman's beat becoming smaller in the cities, the motorcycles gave way to the bicycles. The mails are carried today by railway, public and private omni-buses, and the department's fleet of vehicles.

References

External links and sources

Sri Lanka Post
{{Postal administrations of Asia Postal organizations

Post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...