Agency for w s h uesting uc at on uestioning Cyber Express Jewish cultural for adults and learning opportunities Israel's Postal Authority is looking at niche markets to meet the challenges of the cyber age. JUDY SIEGEL ITZKOVICH SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS - M ail services have been bring the purchases to their doors. around at least since One example of this potential King Ahasuerus dis- is a popular Orthodox toy and sta- patched his anti-Jewish tionery supply store in Jerusalem. decrees to all corners of his vast Located in a dingy basement in empire through a well-organized Rehov Mea She'arim, the store is constantly visited by parents cavalry force. Since then, of course, mail ser- • looking for children's gifts, and vices have ceased to be the kindergarten teachers seeking exclusive lot of rulers. But tech- arts-and-crafts materials with a nologically, it may now seem a bit Jewish theme. anachronistic to lick a stamp, This old-fashioned but well- stick it on a letter and send it on stocked shop is in the process of a lengthy and sometimes ardu- setting up an Internet site for sell- ous journey through a series of ing its goods around the world. sorters and messengers before ar- The Postal Authority expects to riving at its destination. be a primary beneficiary. Could it be that in- stead of being hand- delivered, letters in the 21st century will consist only of electrons coursing through computers and telephone cables, reaching their desti- nation in split sec- onds? While well aware of the technological changes that threat- en the economic feasi- bility of Israel's postal services, Moshe Tery says the Postal Au- thority will meet the demands of a profit- oriented balance sheet. The new director- general of the Israel post office doesn't see pa- per and envelopes disap- pearing from the scene in the near future. While there are Israel's 5,000 salaried postal bound to be user-friendly com- puter screens that send and re- workers and 2,000 contractors ac- ceive e-mail with merely the touch cept, sort and deliver two million of a finger, many people either pieces of mail each working day have no access to computers or (540 million pieces a year) — and the figure is growing by 10 per- simply fear them. Bank statements and other of- cent annually. The process has become high- ficial correspondence will contin- ue to be sent through regular ly computerized, using some of mail, according to Mr. Tery. Peo- the most advanced equipment in ple want the actual, original doc- the world. Scanners can read and ument in their hands, he says, decipher hand-written ZIP codes and some won't even settle for a and dispatch them to the proper fax. sorting bin with few errors. The "And then there is, of course, authority is negotiating with an the mailing of packages, which Israeli company for a program could never be replaced by e- that reads addresses scrawled on envelopes. If this works with a low mail," he says. Indeed, package deliveries may degree of error, it could further re- be the greatest potential of the duce the need for human sorters Postal Authority, as futurists pre- and speed up delivery beyond its dict more and more people will current 1.5 days for the average purchase goods from computer domestic Israeli letter. At present, screens rather than stores. The the average wait in line at an Is- post office is five minutes. mail messengers will have to A card-carrying Likud mem- ber, Mr. Tery was brought to his position by Communications Min- ister Limor Livnat at a rather difficult time for the Postal Au- thority. Mr. Tery replaced Ran Levin, who resigned following a scandal involving the alleged mis- handling of millions of pieces of lost Likud campaign literature. Though he wasn't found re- sponsible for the affair, Mr. Levin quit. His aides hinted there was "a lot more wrong" in the Postal Authority. Ironically, Mr. Levin had been brought in from a management position in the Israel Education Ministry two years before by then- minister Shulamit Aloni to fix the chaos created by the dismissal of the previous director-general. Mr. Tery refuses to say a bad word about anyone, or even to ex- plain the exact condition in which he found the Postal Authority when he arrived there nearly five months ago. "There are wonderful, profes- sional, dedicated people here," he declares. "I made some personnel changes within the organization, but didn't bring in from the out- side more than one person. There is also much to be done here in di- rect-mail advertising, which ben- efits the mail and was not exploited properly in the past." Hearing that Israel's 5 million citizens are generally pleased by the improvements in mail service and the functioning and appear- ance of the 710 postal branches, Mr. Tery admits that there is still room for improvement. "Mail delivery is the only ser- vice in the country requiring daily visits to every home and office across Israel. It involves human beings, so things can go wrong." Looking for niche markets, the Postal Authority is keen on filling in for the commercial banks when, as expected, their branch- es no longer open on Fridays. Postal banks in every postal branch could carry out all major transactions. Another key function could be computerized information kiosks that would allow residents throughout Israel to do business electronically, obtaining printed- out forms from the branch com- puters, or even filling them in on-line. ... • (c) Jerusalem Post 1997 Hosted by BarnesfyNoble lookoollar, SInco 1077 6800 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Lecture series from 7:00 p.m.— 8:30 p.m. 411 When a Loved One Dies: How Judaism Views the Catharsis of the Mourning Process Rabbi Steven Weil, Young Israel of Oak Park Monday, February 10 111. Jewish Spouses: Best of Friend, Best of Lovers Rabbi Steven Weil, Young Israel of Oak Park Tuesday, February 18 O Hate in Cyberspace Professor Jack Kay Chairman, Communication Department Wayne State University Tuesday, February 25 History of the Printing of the Talmud: Revolution, Controversy and Accomplishment Rabbi Dov Loketch, Agudos Yisroel Mogen Avraham Tuesday, March 11 O Role of Satan in Classical Jewish Literature Rabbi Aaron Bergman Congregation Beth Abraham Hillel Moses Monday, March 17 4110 From Biblical Sarah to Jerry Seinfeld: Jewish Humor through the Ages Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg, Congregation Shir Tikvah Tuesday, April 1 0 Unlock the Mystery of the Haggadah: Hebrew is the Solution Nira Lev, Director of Hebrew Programs Agency for Jewish Education Monday, April 7 41. Whose Choice is it Anyway? Jewish Principles With Respect to Abortion Rabbi Leonardo Bitran Congregation Sha'arey Zedek, B'nai Israel Center Tuesday, April 15 0 Jewish Views of Intimacy Rabbi Debra Orenstein Conservative Movement Scholar-In-Residence Monday, May 5 0 The Tallit: A Garment of Holiness Rabbi Moshe Tutnauer Congregation Sha'arey Zedek Tuesday, May 13 Quabbles and Quests: Biblical Insights into Power Struggles and the Generation Gap Rabbi Norman Roman, Temple Kol Ami Monday, June 2 4110 The Jewish Enlightenment: Creating the Modern Jew Rabbi Sherwin Wine, The Birmingham Temple Monday, June 30 For reservations and information on our other programs, call Naomi Blumenberg (.1 (810) 354-1050.