SingPost closes 12 post offices in past 2 years

Singapore Post has closed 12 post offices in the last two years.

The national postal service provider has 44 post offices remaining.

Seven of the outlets are standalone branches at community clubs, office buildings or Housing Board blocks, while the rest are in malls, such as Suntec City, Northpoint City and Westgate.

The outlet at Clementi Mall closed on Sep. 20, after 11 years in operation.

Decline in mail volumes

The closures come amidst a decline in mail volumes, The Straits Times reported.

Letter mail and printed paper volumes in Singapore fell from 95.6 million to 87.8 million items — a 8.1 per cent decline.

To ensure postal services remain cost-effective and relevant, adjustments will be made to some post offices and locations, ST reported a SingPost spokesperson as saying.

Uptick in e-commerce deliveries

Its POPStation or parcel locker network is currently available at over 100 locations and more than 300 condominiums.

SingPost will be expanding POPStop, a drop-off service for e-commerce shipping and returns, to its heartland stores equipped to receive parcels on its behalf.

POPStop is at all post offices.

The first standalone POPStop was set up at Tampines MRT station in March 2024.

There is also POPDrop, a self-service drop-off box to pay bills and purchase shipping labels.

The service is being expanded, with the first located at the General Post Office at SingPost Centre in Paya Lebar.

Since October 2023, the postage rate for standard letter mail increased from 31 cents to 51 cents to cover SingPost’s obligations to the nation.

The last major increase occurred in 2014.

Top photo via Google Maps