Something good is happening at the PTT

As a child, it was one of my favorite things to go the post office and see whether any new stamps had arrived or not. Back in the day, I was trying to create the world’s biggest stamp collection. In my teenage years, the PTT was still important, as I was a boarding student and land lines were the only option if I wanted to talk to my family. Later on, with the arrival of mobile technologies and broadband, the PTT seemed to have outlived its usefulness to me, especially after one of the T’s – telephone services – were sold to Türk Telekom. It was still the PTT, but it only had telegraph and postal services. 

The PTT was almost as good as dead to me. Lately, however, I have been hearing very different news coming from the PTT. Something different is happening; the institution seems to be back, alive and kicking.
 
First of all, postal services have changed. It had been about letters, but now it is about e-commerce. Turkish e-commerce businesses are soaring, online spending is increasing every year and the PTT is right at the heart of it. It wants to get a bigger share of the market. 

It is investing in infrastructure and different services. No one can say that the institution is on par with Amazon when it comes to logistics and warehouse management, but it is getting there. PTT CEO Kenan Bozgeyik is keen on becoming the market leader. 

The PTT is also one of the biggest money transfer agents in Turkey. Thousands of people get their retirement allowances through the PTT. 

The Citi Group uses the PTT’s services and will use it as a role model in the MENA region. Citibank Turkey CEO Serra Akçaoğlu has been appointed to lead 60 countries in the MENA region. She said that in terms of the supply chain and foreign trade, Turkey offers solutions that can be exemplified: “We also use PTT branches in Turkey like our own branches. We have real time, online connections. We will see if we can apply the same model in those countries,” Akçaoğlu said, highlighting that they wanted to strengthen relations with local banks in the MENA region.

Turk Telekom recently signed a cooperation protocol with the PTT for real estate development. Both parties will try to make best use of their assets. 

As a side note to the younger me, they are even innovating stamps too, meaning you can now produce your own stamps.

Unfortunately, I can find very little positive news when it comes to technology management or state-run enterprises. As such, I usually end up making criticisms in this column. Today, I feel as light as a feather as I could finally come up with something positive to write about. I hope they keep this streak going.