The old red mailbox has been turned into a yellow smart postbox providing tourism information such as nearby tourist attractions, restaurants, souvenirs and local product shops through its QR code, under a Thailand Post initiative.
Dubbed Pee Too Roo Tuuk Rueng (the box knows everything), 15 innovative post boxes were installed in Phitsanulok province as a pilot project, with plans to expand them to other provinces nationwide in the near future.
The move is part of a push to achieve the Thailand Post 4.0 roadmap by 2019, said Lt Gen Satit Pittarat, chairman of the board, speaking on the occasion of the company's 15th anniversary.
That roadmap focuses on providing standardised services and meeting consumers' needs in the digital era.
"We keep developing our organisation by exploiting our Thailand Post's strength in networking, with more than 1,300 post offices nationwide to help drive local economy," he said. Thailand Post is set to complete its digitalised transformation through its postal and delivery business by the end of 2019.
It hopes to create sustainable growth for the organisation and cope with competition in the industry from an influx of no-frills messenger service apps and international parcel delivery service providers.
As part of that drive, the company plans to spend at least 3 billion a year until next year, upgrading its core IT automation systems and distribution centres, he said.
On another front, the government has asked Thailand Post to develop its postal and delivery business ecosystem to serve as a logistics hub for the government's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project by 2019.
The government needs to see development in two areas: expanding the logistics service capacity of its Sriracha branch in Chon Buri to serve logistics traffic in the EEC, and setting up a duty-free zone for logistics business in the EEC.
Thailand Post president Samorn Terdthampiboon said the company is focusing on strengthening local e-commerce in three areas: e-marketplace and platform, e-logistics, and e-payments.
The e-marketplace and platform area covers development of the website www.thailandpostmart.com, which is also a gathering point for products from local entrepreneurs nationwide.
The e-logistics part covers research and development of new delivery channels for e-commerce. The e-payments component is a creation of new payment channel to serve digital wallets and the rise of the cashless society.
Ms Samorn said the company's digitalised transformation through its postal and delivery businesses is scheduled to complete by the end of next year.
Thailand Post recorded first-half revenue of 13.4 billion baht, with net profit of 1.97 billion baht, up 18% from the same period last year.
Revenue comes mainly from growth in its parcels and EMS delivery service, which generates 42% of total revenue or approximately 6 billion baht.
Thailand Post hopes to achieve its 2017 target of 26 billion baht revenue, or net profit of 3.3 billion baht.
Last year, the company booked 25 billion baht for its total revenue, increasing 13% from 22 billion in 2015.