UKRAINE: Ukrainian postal service create personalised stamps to save business

A decline in business has made the Ukrainian postal service offer personalised stamps to encourage people to send mail. As more and more Ukrainians join the cyber world they have increased correspondence by email and have stopped writing letters. The country's postal service has noticed a dramatic decline in the number of letters mailed by post. The Ukrainian postal service, however, has thought of new ways to maintain their market in the electronic age. Previously, Ukrainian postal stamps only had the images of the most prominent figures in Ukrainian history. Now that is all about to change. Anyone can now have their face on a Ukrainian stamp. The Ukrainian postal service now offers custom-made printing where clients can pay to have their own face on stamps. "This is done to generate greater interest in written correspondence. It is a new product for stamp collectors,'' said Valentina Hudoli, head of printing company, 'Stamps of Ukraine'. "It is also intended to boost the image of the Ukrainian postal service. For the moment we are doing this as an experiment, but as of April we will be working at full capacity. Anyone who comes to our central post office on Kreschatik 22 can have his picture taken and in an hour or so receive stamps with his own photographs printed on them," Hudoli said. The experiment has so far proved a success, and the printing press works non-stop. Some people are eager to indulge in the vain wish to immortalise themselves in a manner that once was only reserved for the Ukrainian pantheon of national heroes, while others find the service to be an off-beat gift on birthdays and holidays. The cost of this service is 54 grivna, the equivalent of about 10 U.S. dollars. Each sheet has 30 stamps. "Our boss has a birthday soon, and we wanted to give her an unusual little gift so we decided to order stamps with her favourite photograph,'' said Yelena Babushkina, a Kiev resident. "I think she will be very happy," Babushkina added. The postal service, however, requires that you show your passport, or the passport of the person's face who will be on the stamp, when making an order. This way it protects individuals against unauthorised use of their image.

ITN Source | March 20, 2007

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