Seeking Technologies to Enable Tracking & Tracing of Postal Articles

For over 160 years, Singapore Post (SingPost) as the country's postal service provider, has been delivering trusted and reliable services to homes and businesses in Singapore. Today, SingPost is pioneering and leading in eCommerce logistics as well as providing innovative mail and logistics solutions in Singapore and around the world, with operations in 19 markets. Building on its trusted communications through domestic and international postal services, SingPost is taking the lead in end-to-end integrated and digital mail solutions.

The eCommerce market has seen tremendous growth over the last five years. Retail brands and eCommerce platforms have been using postal services to fulfil their orders on time with the best value.

SingPost had experienced record-breaking volumes during the peak season such as the annual Single’s Day and Black Friday events. Volumes have grown both in quantity and value of each item.

The logistics market has been delivering these products with track and trace technology, providing the ability for recipients to check on the status of their purchases with ease and accuracy.

In the postal delivery network, the value chain is handled by different operating agents as well as the local postal delivery team before it reaches the recipient. There is a need to ensure accountability and visibility for both operator and recipients especially with the surge in eCommerce items flowing through the postal delivery network.

Track and trace is available for more premium postal service products. However, for Ordinary Mail (letters, flats, small packets), the hand shake from various parties is executed without item level tracking due to cost constraints and the lack of a cost effective solution to provide track and trace without impacting the cost factor.

We are therefore seeking a solution that is able to enable track & trace for Ordinary Mail deliveries throughout the postal delivery chain. This is to improve visibility of the item, reduce the chances of pilferage, and prevent contraband & controlled products from reaching the hands of criminals. For this challenge, we will be focusing on ordinary (basic) mail track and trace capability.

We are seeking technologies that can improve ordinary mail track and trace capability.

Ordinary mail currently lacks unique identifiers (eg. barcode, QR code) to identify, track and trace them. These mail do not undergo individual machine scanning, and there is limited visibility on the status throughout the delivery life-cycle.

The proposed solution should allow for tracking and tracing of these ordinary mail while preserving prevailing postal rates.

Possible solutions include:

• Computer Vision. For proposed solutions involving mobile devices, it should be noted that postmen and postwomen (postal carriers) are issued standard Android smartphones.
• Affixed labels that are affordable (~1c per label). Any material used must not cause harm to human health.

Mail dimensions and existing postage rates can be found in this link: https://www.singpost.com/postage-rate 

The proposed solution should be able to integrate with existing SingPost platforms via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

Minimum Required Technology Readiness Level (TRL)

Level 7

The solution is expected to provide a safe and secure delivery for our customers, and to maintain SingPost’s position as an industry leader known for secure eCommerce delivery. The improvement to the visibility of the mail deliveries is an expectation from our customers that we aim to meet. The reduction in pilferage would also help reduce compensation for the organisation.

Expected timeline of 6 months.

Further Details

Further details of the challenge statement may be found at the Briefings Page, in the form of video recordings of the virtual briefing sessions, Q&A transcripts and presentation slides if available.

Instructions on Submitting Proposals

Download the proposal submission form in Microsoft Word format at the 'Attachment' section of the Challenge Statement Listing Page and fill in the details of your project proposal. You can then proceed to the proposal submission page by logging in and clicking the 'Submit Proposal' button on the right side of this page, where you will have to fill in the form fields and attach the filled Microsoft Word project submission form before submitting. Do also upload supporting documents/files that may support your proposal.