Postcodes vital to physical and virtual procurement


20 Nov 2007

E-commerce, satellite navigation and virtual procurement — all of these areas rely on modern economies employing modern postcodes, except Ireland still thinks small on the issue. Chambers Ireland today called for urgent progress on the matter.

The chair of Chambers Ireland’s Digital Policy Council Claire Cunningham called on the Government to deliver on its three-year-old commitment to introduce a postcode system in Ireland.

“In 2005, the then Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources was committed to introducing postcodes by January 2008,” she said.

“While that date may now be unachievable, the Government must deliver without any further delay on its commitment to introducing the system as soon as possible.”

Cunningham said the Irish postal service forms an integral element of both virtual and physical procurement.

“A well-functioning and cost-effective service is also good for business and in that context, the rollout of a postcode system is crucial to speeding up the sorting process and allowing for a more reliable postal service,” Cunningham continued.

“Ireland has an expected mail per capita rate of 350 pieces per annum, but its actual mail-per-capita rate in 2004 was 187 pieces. Postcodes would help An Post in building and supporting its universal network, given that Ireland’s mail-per-capita ratio is clearly well below those of countries with a comparable GDP,” Cunningham concluded.

By John Kennedy