Hongkong Post
Trading fund | |
Industry | Post, philately |
Genre | Postal service |
Founded | 1841 |
Founder | Royal Mail |
Headquarters |
Hongkong Post Headquarters, 2 Connaught Place, Central Hong Kong[1], Hong Kong |
Area served | Hong Kong |
Key people | Jessie Ting Yip Yin-mei, Postmaster General and general manager of the Post Office Trading Fund |
Products | mail delivery, philatelic products |
Services | Postal services, Philatelic services |
Revenue | HKD$5,176,000,000 (2013) |
Owner | Government of Hong Kong |
Number of employees | over 7053 (2013) |
Parent | Government of Hong Kong |
Slogan | Linking people Delivering business |
Website | http://www.hongkongpost.com |
Hongkong Post | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 香港郵政 | ||||||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 香港邮政 | ||||||||||
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Hongkong Post (Chinese: 香港郵政) is a department under the Government of Hong Kong responsible for postal services, though operated as a Trading Fund. Founded in 1841, it was known as Postal Department or Post Office (Chinese: 郵政署) before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. It is sub-member of the Universal Postal Union since 1877, and is a separate entity from China Post.
History
Merchants traded in Hong Kong on the two sides of Victoria Harbour as early as before the British possession in 1842. They complained about the absence of proper postal services and therefore the Postal Department was established.
The department was founded on 28 August 1841, but the first post office (a.k.a. 書信館 at that time), situated near the current site of St. John's Cathedral, opened on 12 November 1841. At first, its right to operation belonged to the Royal Mail, until its transfer to the Postmaster General on 1 May 1860.
On 8 December 1862, the Office issued the first set of Hong Kong postal stamps. Before this time, only British troops in Hong Kong could use British stamps, while other local residents did not have access to British stamps. Until the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, mail for British forces serving in the then-colony used the British Forces Post Office number, BFPO 1, which was charged at the UK inland rate.
In 1989, the Office introduced automated mail sorting and machines were installed in the General Post Office.[2]
There is no post code system in Hong Kong, although one has been under consideration since 2000.[3]
Since August 1995, the Office has operated as a Trading Fund and the full title of the head of the Office became "Postmaster General and general manager of the Post Office Trading Fund" (Chinese: 香港郵政署長兼郵政署營運基金總經理).
Before 1997, the post boxes were painted red, as in the United Kingdom, and were engraved with the royal cipher, e.g. "EIIR" (short form for "Elizabeth II Regina" ) to represent Queen Elizabeth II. Since the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the livery of the drop-off boxes has become green, with the new Hongkong Post logo. As of December 2011, only 59 colonial post boxes bearing the royal insignia were still in service on the streets of Hong Kong.[4]
Postal history
During the colonial era, Hong Kong produced postage stamps simply bearing the name Hong Kong, printed alongside the likenesses (in profile) of the reigning monarchs of the United Kingdom, or royal symbols (for example, "EIIR").
Since Hong Kong's transfer of sovereignty to China in 1997, stamps issued have borne the name "Hong Kong, China". British Hong Kong postage stamps are no longer valid for prepayment of postage and cannot be repurchased by the Post Office.
Post offices
Hongkong Post operates 128 post offices throughout Hong Kong. As of 2007, 34 post offices existed on Hong Kong Island, 42 in Kowloon, 45 in the New Territories and 8 on the Outlying Islands. Two mobile post offices provide postal services in remote areas in the New Territories.
Address format
Address for postal items in Hong Kong can be written in English or Chinese, the official languages of Hong Kong.
An address written in English should begin with the smallest unit and end with the largest unit, as in the following example for a domestic mail within Hong Kong.
Format | Example |
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Name of addressee Flat number, Floor number, Name of building (if a rural address: (Flat number, Floor number,) Name/number of house) Street number and street name (if a rural address: Village name) Name of district "Hong Kong", "Hong Kong Island" or "H. K." for Hong Kong Island/"Kowloon" or "Kln" for Kowloon/"New Territories" or "N. T." for New Territories |
Mr. Jackie Chan Flat 25, 12/F, Acacia Building 150 Kennedy Road Wan Chai Hong Kong Island |
An address written in Chinese should begin with the largest unit and end with the smallest unit, as in the following example for a piece of domestic mail within Hong Kong. Traditional Chinese characters are used in this example.
Format | Example |
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["香港", "港島" or "香港島" for Hong Kong Island/"九龍" for Kowloon/"新界" for New Territories] [Name of district] [Street name][Street number] (if a rural address: [Village name]) [Name of building][Floor number][Flat number] (if a rural address: [House name/number]([Floor number][Flat number])) [Name of addressee] |
香港島 灣仔 堅尼地道105號 雅佳大廈12樓25室 陳港生先生 |
Services
Economy of Hong Kong |
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Identity |
Resources |
Companies |
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Other Hong Kong topics |
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Hong Kong Portal |
Post
In addition to making its income from traditional postal delivery, Hongkong Post also sells philatelic products, and is used by the Government and utility companies to accept payment from customers.
Philately
Hongkong Post Stamps was a division set up in 1974, charged with promoting and popularising stamp collecting, to meet the ever-increasing demand for Hong Kong stamps by collectors. The division conducts three main areas of work:
- stamp product design and production
- fulfilment and advance ordering service
- philatelic marketing.
Owing to the territory's conservative stamp-issuing policy, stamp collecting in Hong Kong is a popular hobby. Different types of attractively designed stamp products are also popular with stamp collectors around the world.
Other
Hongkong Post also provides services listed below:
- Local Courier Post
- Speedpost
- Periodicals/Circular/Direct Mail services
- e-Post
- e-Cert (Electronic Certificate for e-commerce)
- e-Business
- Franking machine
- Postal remittance service (to Canada, Mainland China, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal and the Philippines)
- Electronic remittance service (through Western Union)
- PayThruPost (Bill payment)
- Logistics, etc.
Incidents
- In 2005 newspapers revealed the presence of pinhole cameras in Cheung Sha Wan Post Office, and this was perceived as a violation of people's privacy. Hongkong Post explained that the cameras were necessary for facilitating police investigations into several suspected theft cases.
- In March 2007, two postal staff lost three bags of mail, destined for Wan Chai and the Eastern District, in the management offices of Hongkong Post buildings. Although Hongkong Post eventually found one of the lost bags, 400 letters were reportedly lost.
Achievements
- Winner of the 2005 "Hong Kong Awards for Industries – Productivity and Quality Award" for achievement in productivity enhancement and total quality management.[5]
- Winner of the Caring Organisation Logo 2005/06 by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service.
- Winner of the Gold Level Certification in the Universal Postal Union EMS Cooperative Audit and Measurement Programme 2005.
- Winner of the Web Care Award 2005 – Gold Prize from Internet Professional Association.
- Guinness World Record holder for the largest stamp mosaic.[6]
Postage rate
The postage rates vary from one service to another and these can be found at the company's website.[7]
Gallery
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A large letter box found at Tsim Sha Tsui
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An ordinary stamp vending machine located at a post office
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A postage label vending machine located at Tsim Sha Tsui Post Office. Postage labels are instantly-printed stamps with customisable or pre-set postage fees. It was discontinued service and then removed since summer 2008.
See also
- Chunghwa Post
- China Post
- Correios de Macau
- List of postal services abroad
- List of postal services by countries
- List of Hong Kong companies
- Royal Mail – operated in Hong Kong from 1841 to 1870
Footnotes
- ↑ Hongkong Post – Contact Us – Hongkong Post Headquarters address
- ↑ "Postal Automation (Hong Kong)". NEC. Archived from the original on 16 April 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2007.
- ↑ "Postal coding system in Hong Kong". NEC. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
- ↑ 香港舊郵筒地圖 Hong Kong Old Postboxes Map https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=208097064092315584558.00046ced54d8218175911&msa=0
- ↑ "Hongkong Post Wins the 2005 Hong Kong Awards for Industries – Productivity and Quality Award".
- ↑ "Promoting A Strong Brand Identity".
- ↑ Hongkong Post. "Postage Rate". Retrieved 27 August 2009.
Sources
- Stanley Gibbons Ltd: various catalogues
- AskPhil – Glossary of Stamp Collecting Terms at the Wayback Machine (archived May 23, 2011)
- Encyclopaedia of Postal History at the Wayback Machine (archived October 10, 2012)
- Stuart Rossiter & John Flower: The Stamp Atlas
- Webb, F. W. (1961) The Philatelic and Postal History of Hong Kong and the Treaty Ports of China and Japan, The Royal Philatelic Society London
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hongkong Post. |
- Hongkong Post official website (English) (traditional Chinese (HK)) (Chinese)
- Hongkong Post Stamps official website (philatelistics)
- Chapter 98 POST OFFICE ORDINANCE in the Law of Hong Kong
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