Types of Mail Offices

Mail Office

• Mail offices are of two kinds.• They are– Sorting Mail offices– Transit Mail offices

• Sorting mail office situated in a railway station is RMS office. (Vadodara RMS)

• Sorting mail office situated outside the Railway station is Sorting office. ( Mysore STG)

• A sorting mail office situated at airport premises / near the airport is Airport Sorting office (Chennai APSO).

Mail Office

• A branch of RMS which deals with the closed bags is called Transit Mail Office. (TMO)

– TMO functioning in a train is Transit Section. ( HB-7-IN)– TMO located at Railway Station is RSTMO. ( Delhi R S TMO)– TMO located at Airport / near Airport is APTMO.(Mumbai AP TMO)– TMO located at Bus Stand / Station is BSTMO.( B’lore BS TMO)

• Head Sorting Assistant is the in charge of the Sorting Mail Office.

• Mail Guard/Mail Agent is the in charge of the Transit Mail Office

Sorting Mail Office

• Sorting Mail office handle bags and contents of bags.

• Receive, process, close, despatch all kinds of bags

• Open all kinds of bag addressed to them and sort all kinds of articles received by them.– eg. Madurai RMS, Karaikudi sorting

office

Transit Mail Office

• Handle closed bags• Open transit bags addressed to them

and sort only closed bags• Do not sort the articles

Other Types of Mail offices

• Automatic Mail Processing Centre (AMPC)– Situated in cities where the quantum of mail is

heavy. – Mechanized coding and sorting of unregistered mail.– AMPC New Delhi.– At Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi & Kolkata

• Press Sorting Office (PSO)– Situated on the premises of the News Paper press.– This office works to suit the dispatch timing of the

News Paper.

Other Types of Mail Offices

• Paper Sorting office – situated in big cities where volume of second

class unregistered mail is very high.– Chennai PSO, B’lore PSO

•Computerized Registration Centres – the registration branch of the Mail office, where

the processing of registration work is done in computerised environment through R-net software.

– A CRC can be situated in the Mail Office itself or in a separate location`

Other Types of Mail Offices

• Business Post Centre– Performs pre-mailing activities on fixed

additional charges.– Collection, insertion, pasting,

addressing, franking/affixing stamps .( BPC Anna Road Chennai.)

Other Types of Mail Offices

• National Sorting Hub (NSH)– Mail Office / Branch of Mail Office processing speed post

articles across the country (Eg. Madurai NSH)

• Intra Circle Hub (ICH)– Mail Office / Branch of Mail Office processing speed post

articles within a postal circle (Eg. Tuticorin ICH)

• BNPL Centres– Mail Office / Branch of Mail Office identified for booking

speed post articles under BNPL and processing speed post articles and forwarding to concerned NSH across the country

( Eg. BNPL SPH BPC Anna Road Chennai)

Other Types of Mail Offices

• L-1 Mail Office – Existing Mail Office classified for processing first

class registered and unregistered mails ( exclusively handles either first class or second

class or handle both class of mails) across the country ( Eg. Mangalore RMS, Nampally Stg)

• L-2 Mail Office – Existing Mail Office classified for processing first

class registered and unregistered mails ( exclusively handles either first class or second class or handle both class of mails) across the circle ( Mandya stg, Kazipet RMS)

Other Types of Mail Offices

• L-1 Parcel Hub (PH)–Mail Office / Branch of Mail Office

processing Registered/ Ordinary & Business Parcels across the country

(Eg. PH Lucknow)

• L-2 Parcel Hub (PH)–Mail Office / Branch of Mail Office

processing Registered/ Ordinary & Business Parcels within a postal circle

(Eg. PH Dindigul)

Other Types of Mail Offices

• Express Parcel Hub (EPH)–Mail Office processing only Express

Parcels across the country (Eg. Chennai EPH)

Other Types of Mail offices

• Record office – Stationary office of the Railway Mail Service

where the work papers of the sections attached to it are prepared/preserved.

• Head Record office– A stationary office– Situated at the headquarters of RMS Division – Prepares and draws salary and contingent

bills for the entire division(Eg. HRO Q Dn. B’lore)

Other Types of Mail Offices

• Sub Record office – Stationary office of the RMS,– Situated at the same station as a Mail office.– Prepares work papers for sections and

themselves.– All forms required for their sections are

supplied.(SRO Q Dn. Mysore)

Record Officer will be the in charge of the Record Office.

TRANSIT MAIL OFFICES

Transit Mail Office

• Mail agent or mail guard is in charge 

• Duties comprise the work connected with receipt, custody, sorting and despatch of closed bags. 

• Only Transit bags are opened and closed 

• Mail bags are not opened by TMO 

• TMO can book Registered / Speed Post articles

• TMO prepares Mail Abstract • Mail Agent / Mail Guard prepares

Daily Report.

Transit Mail Office

• Occasional despatches – To clear accumulated mail – Handed over to Railway authorities.

• Escort system - Postal staff to escort mails up to

destination.- Special accommodation provided by

Railways.

• Extra accommodation in trains -Additional space, on requisition, in regular section

• Priorities for seasonal mails  

Special Arrangements in TMO

FUNCTIONING OF PSO AND OTHER OFFICES

Paper Sorting Offices

• Processing centres for 2nd class mail- Inward & Outward. It is part of L-I/ L-II (Second Class) offices of the circle.

• Outward PSOs close bags to inward PSOs of other circles 

Returned Letter Office

• Situated at the HQ of the Postal Circle. • Deals with unclaimed and refused articles and

articles without/incomplete/undecipherable addresses

Transcription Centre

• A cell in the sorting office situated normally at the HQ of a circle or any other convenient Sorting Office in the circle. It transcribes the addresses written in regional languages into English

Other Offices

• A post office, Sorting Office or Section which exchanges mail with the offices in foreign countries. ( Mumbai Fgn)

• A Despatching Office of Exchange/Outward Office of Exchange makes up and addresses mails to an office of exchange of a foreign country.

• A Receiving Office of Exchange/Inward Office of Exchange receives mails addressed to it by office of exchange of foreign countries.

• Even office of exchange with both inward and outward functions may function in one of the capacities for some countries.

Office of Exchange

• An office of Exchange at the border area which receives and despatches only closed bags.

• They do not close bags or open inward foreign bags.

Office of Exchange of Transit

• An Office of Exchange where assessment of customs duty on foreign mails is also carried out. ( Chennai Fgn Post Office)

• The articles suspected to contain dutiable material, received in the Foreign Post Office or any other nearby Office of Exchange, are assessed for duty (if required by opening the article)

Foreign Post Office

• An office which is not an office of exchange but the work of customs examination, assessment and accounting is done.

(B’lore Sub Fgn PO)• It functions for the convenience of senders

and addressees who may be required to present documents for release or despatch of their foreign articles

Sub Foreign Post Office

• Exercise 2.1.1