Standing tall for tourism

BEST KNOWN FOR its earthen jars, temples, caves and floating market, Ratchaburi now has a new landmark: a mailbox. Of course, it’s not any old mailbox but is the country’s largest, standing a massive 7.1 metres high and 1.7 metres wide and constructed in Chinese style.

The giant red replica postbox has been erected in Suan Phung District, itself a popular tourist destination with rolling hills, sheep herds, cool weather and the occasional music festival focusing on love songs. Unsurprisingly, it stands in front of the Suan Phung post office, all the better to advertise Thailand Post’s new campaign, “Thiew Suan Phung Bueng Pai Praisanee”, which means “Travel to Suan Phueng and Visit the Post Office”. The campaign aims to increase tourism, preserve traditions and boost the local economy.

“We selected Suan Phung as the pilot district for this campaign and are hoping that our initiative will strengthen the community while generating some much-needed income for the small entrepreneurs in the area,” says Smorn Terdthampiboon, the new president of Thailand Post. 

Initiated by the Thailand Post as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, the campaign is focused on developing community-based tourism. Tied in with the Thailand Post’s website, it also supports local Karen artisans and other One Tambon One Product (Otop) entrepreneurs, which is in line with the government’s policy of boosting online trade.

“Thailand Post is livelier today because of its online trading of community products,” says Smorn. “Our two main businesses are sending documents and parcels. Obviously personal letters have decreased significantly since the advent of e-mail, smartphones and social media, but at the same time we have seen an increase in the number of business letters, such as credit cards, utility and cellphone bills. With banks issuing ever-greater numbers of credit cards, the volume of documents sent through Thailand Post continues to swell.”

Smorn, who recently began a four-year term as the head of Thailand Post, uses the four letters that spell “post” to denote actions that promote excellence.

“‘P’ stands for product and that means offering an excellent service. I am pushing my staff to increase their level of service-mindedness. ‘O’ is for operation, and while Thailand Post has been operating efficiently throughout its 132 years, we need to move with the times and be fully on top of the latest technology. And so I focus on ease of use and automation for all procedures at postal centres around the country. ‘S’ is for sustainability, which we are achieving, and. ‘T’ is for teamwork, which is particularly important for us as we have a staff of 30,000 and need them to follow the same direction.”

In addition to the Internet channels, Thailand Post is also helping locals by hosting a market where the Karen and other craftspeople can sell their wares. Twice a month, the space outside the Suan Phung post office hosts the market, offering such creations as gold-plated leaf accessories, pine charcoal deodorisers and vacuum-baked bananas.

Choknawat Phuraya, 72, is vice chairman of the Niranporn Occupational Centre and an expert in gold and rhodium plating. He creates brooches, pendants and earrings from leaves then covers them in plated gold and rhodium. They’re on sale at Phufa shops, where the gold-plated leaf brooch sells for Bt550 and its rhodium-plated sibling for Bt650.

“I mainly use the red vine leaf, which has a beautiful shape,” says Choknawat, who adds that Niranporn is staffed by girls from Suan Phung Wittaya School who work on Saturday and Sunday and and on holidays. 

“Most of our customers are foreign. We have one major customer in Chanthaburi who orders our products through the Phufa shop and ships them to Singapore.”

Pimchanok Huayhongthong, 40, supervises the children, young people and women who transform pine charcoal into attractive deodorisers for the home and car.

“It is a unique souvenir of Suan Phung,” she says. “It is made from the leftovers of pine charcoal from the community. The charcoal is ground then mixed with dried kaffir, before being sculpted using latex glue into round, sheep-like shapes. After that, students from several local schools print our rose and bee logos on the sheep. The finished products can be used to deodorise the refrigerator and the car. These days we design sheep with all different patterns and give them the heads of the zebra, elephant and bird.

Thailand Post isn’t alone in its endeavours. For the campaign, it’s been joined by hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. They include Theerama Cottage Natural Resort, Baan Aom Kod Kun Kao, Scenery Vintage Farm, Krua Mon Khai, Rabiang Sai, Khrua Tanao Si, Moai Coffee, Baan Hom Tien, Veneto Floating Market and lifestyle farming concern Coro Field.

 

On the Web: www.ThailandPost.co.th.