Correos de Cuba has created a website, accessible at www.correos.cu in response to customer demands for a mail tracking service.
Using an internet connection from any device: laptop, cell phone, tablet or other, customers can find out information regarding their parcels, letters, orders and any of the entity’s other services, Andrés Fleites Ortega, director of the Correos de Cuba Central Technological Postal Center, told Granma International.
Launched on October 9, 2015, in the context of World Post Day, thus far the site has been visited by over 21,500 users based primarily in Cuba, followed by Spain, Brazil, the United States and Germany.
“The main advantage lies in being able to track each one of your postal services in real time, from the moment the order is received to the time it’s delivered. With the unique transaction code issued at the post office, clients can keep track of their order and make a claim if delayed or lost, with accurate information, all timed and dated,” he notes.
The director states that in regards to the Universal Postal Service, information is available for all dispatches made from Cuba, from parcels to letters. Mail received must undergo customs proceedings and wait to be classified before entering the Comprehensive Postal System (SIP), a software tool created in 2010 by experts from the entity.
He highlights that, in the case of national money transfers, tracking information can be obtained five minutes after the order is placed, as well as those made from Uruguay, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Ecuador (member countries of the Universal Postal Union) – for transfers of a value up to 1,000 Cuban Convertible Pesos.
Correos de Cuba is working to expand its international money transfer services with countries such as Brazil, Panama and Colombia, already available in Havana, at the company’s offices based in Nuevo Vedado (Ave. 26, Plaza), Universidad (Centro Habana), Habana 14 (Marianao) and Habana 25 (Alamar, Habana del Este).
Cubans can also collect international money transfers from various provincial branches: Artemisa, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo. This service is scheduled to be extended to the remaining territories and the Isle of Youth Special Municipality by June 2016.
Other services accessible on the Correos de Cuba website include notifications regarding benefit and pension payment dates, help and responses to user comments, support services in 63 languages and news regarding postal matters.
A pending issue continues to be the outdated computer technology, a problem caused by insufficient resources to buy modern PCs to meet the demands of the entity’s 815 offices around the country, only 53% of which possess computer technology and are connected to the SIP. This issue is in large part a result of the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on the island for over 50 years.
TOP PRIORITY: THE CUSTOMER
Web designer Yoanny Gutiérrez Guerra, emphasizes that the site includes the company´s emblematic colors and was designed based on the opinions and needs of customers. “We are working so that in the near future we can offer electronic payment services, something yet to be implemented by the company.”
The Office of Institutional Communication is responsible for managing the site’s content and user comments. Director of Customer Support Fatima Giro López notes that people ask about ways and means of lodging complaints. Her work also encompasses collecting suggestions from customers, the entity’s raison d'être.
“There are comments and requests which don’t have an immediate response, in which case we request some time to investigate, we give them our telephone numbers and email addresses in order to keep in contact until the investigation is concluded. On the website itself and the back cover of the magazine Bohemia, clients can find out where to request information or lodge a complaint about one of our services. For example: this month I responded to a comment, which I then forwarded to post office no.1 of Santiago de Cuba, because we take it upon ourselves to contact our colleagues in this province and resolve the case,” the director explains.
Hiramis Mur Ocampo is head of the Central Technological Postal Center’s Development Group and is responsible, among other things, for ensuring that the SIP is available in all branches, outlets and kiosks.
She is currently in the sixth year of an Industrial Engineering degree and is writing her thesis on the quality of the entity’s current software in order to evaluate it in relation to ISO international norms and propose a more effective processing system.
“We are an important part of the image of Correos de Cuba, we work on ensuring that the digital system functions well, we can immediately detect faults in any part of the country, and we offer timely solutions, because just one problem has the potential to paralyze services to the population.”
Engineer Gisellys Nuñez Alemán is responsible for managing, updating and substituting SIP software, composed of various modules related to branch services, shipping and order payments; receiving and sending of parcels, letters, telegrams, sale of goods and others.
“Our computerized system has the advantage of being supported by a web platform, housed in the company´s central hub, created on the basis of opinions of workers from the branches and post offices themselves, who use the program in their daily activities. We also interviewed other experts and finally produced a leading product designed to meet our needs,” Nuñez Alemán states.
The creation of the new Correos de Cuba site responds to the accelerated computerization process being undertaken within Cuban society since 2008, visible through the application of the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and Revolution, approved in April 2011 by the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba.
The entity is aiming to improve and streamline services for its clients, and one way of achieving this has been through the website, a key facet to the future development of this postal organization.
