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Postal Stationery

Home> Articles> Postal Stationery> Sundal, F. Aleem
Inland Pictorial Envelopes
By F. Aleem Sundal
Postal department is rapidly increasing postal tariff of all its products especially of the inland ordinary envelopes, latest slab has jumped from Rs.2 to Rs.4, a hundred percent increase. Where the postal rates are increased in quick succession without notice, the authorities are in no mood to establish a suitable size of this extensively used postal stationery. After currency decimalization in 1961, the size has been altered a dozen time, rarely to the approval of the users. Prepaid envelopes are mostly consumed by the masses for domestic correspondence. A simple design and size like one introduced in the subcontinent in late 1890’s was good enough and remained in use for nearly hundred years in the neighbouring country and till 1978 in Pakistan. In the year 2001 a new style of the envelope was offered. Tailored from poor quality paper the commodity became colourful with commercial advertisement of the post office and then it was extended to the business community as well. But larger size is mostly suitable for office mail. Whereas the post office claiming to have been in loss for sometime, one wonders how it was possible for them to produce the envelope in four colour litho offset.
The new shape (228x100mm) appeared on August 01, 2001. Its front shows the logos of post office agencies followed by its URL at left. The picture of Ziarat Presidency was selected for stamp impression. Four sparse lines and five boxes are placed for address at the middle of the front. Reverse side illustrates views from all four provinces; inscription below each reads as (from right to left) “MAZAR-E-QUAID’, “BADSHAHI MOSQUE”, “FAISAL MOSQUE” and “NORTHERN AREAS”. The closing flap carries three lines for sender’s address, along with postcode boxes. It also has slogan “Visit Pakistan” and URL of tourism department at right.
Before printing text and illustrations, the envelope sheet was applied light blue overlay on its printing side, parts falling under the gummed areas of the flaps are also left colourless. The commodity was designed and printed by Foundation Press, Karachi.
On October 01, 2001, four envelopes depicting advertisements of Habib Bank AG Zurich were brought out. With that the stamp impression was also replaced with depicting emblem of the advertiser in green on orange, surrounded by 2mm green border.
	The face of the envelope shows at left, enlarged emblem of the Bank in golden yellow, above that an inscription “A Tradition of Service” appears in reverse. At top left an Urdu inscription is printed diagonally in black meaning ‘lac of fifty’, which seems to be incorrect, (in my opinion) because no bank can convert Rs.50 to Rs.100, 000 in the period (7 years) specified by the bank (sentence then should have been “lac of fifty thousand”). Another sentence on reverse side printed in Urdu put some weight to my claim by saying ‘amount doubles in seven years’. The Urdu sentence however, was altered to ‘amount doubles in eight years” in April 2002. Third issue in this series had diagonal Urdu inscription changed to ‘send cash quickly at cheaper rate’. On back of the envelope another Urdu version appears in two lines about transfer of money from abroad. The fourth type shows no Urdu lettering on front but four small symbols in that place highlighting the services. Picture of Travellers Cheque is printed on its reverse side.
A month later (November 01), five more pictorial envelopes were put on sale. The new advertiser was Muslim Commercial Bank Limited (MCB) Brief detail of those envelopes is given below. 1- Blue vertical table at left shows “Rupee Travellers Cheque”, “24 HOUR CASH” and emblem of the MCB printed in descendent order. (Back) six frames illustrating as many products, the seventh frame shows trophy and “BEST BANK IN PAKISTAN” (the 2001 Euromoney award). 2- Front depicts Travellers Cheque over its enlargement fragment and an Urdu inscription “cash ho to aisa” (Back;) enlarged Cheque, and bold “IDEAL FOR EVERY DEAL” printed on flap at right. 3- View of cash dispensing machine, human hand inserting ATM Card in slot. (Back); Credit Card and “24-HOUR BANKING CONVENIENCE” inscribed in red panel. 4- Trophy and MCB emblem on colourless rectangular tablet. (Back); 15 symbols indicating MCB products also emblem at bottom left. 5- Emblem followed by 4 sketches; man relaxing, human eyes, flag and map and, hand receiving cheque from another, on colourless tablet. Urdu captions in black below all sketches, in Urdu. (Back) Human hand holding Travellers Cheque, emblem and Urdu inscription, one in red panel below closing flap.
	Pakistan Post Office released one more Rs.4 envelope in reduced size; 200x92mm on June 24, 2002.. The views at the backside were changed to (from right to left) MAKLI TOMB THATTA, RED FORT LAHORE, SUPREME COURT ISLAMABAD and BALAHISAR FORT PESHAWAR. Other features remain the same (postal agencies) except another URL was added at bottom left on front side of the envelope. The Department soon realised its dreadful mistake by naming Lahore Fort as Red Fort. The error was however, rectified and the envelope with corrected text was made available in July 2002.
Before the end of the year, on October 25, 2002, the size of the stationery was again enlarged to 222x96mm. The flags shown on buildings were modified into ‘fluttering’ position. However, the first printing of enlarged envelopes illustrated flags in stationary (closed) position, which is rarer.
In due course of time, the printer perhaps, for its own reference, initiated printing of date (on which the stationery was actually printed) under the left or right flaps. First of its kind was recorded in November 2001 shown as “11/2001”, it is often printed up right but occasionally inverted is also known. Thereafter, date is regularly seen at an interval of one or two months.
No country in the world offers such colourful postal stationery for everyday use. Pakistan being a developing country should reduce its expenses on all fronts, the printing cost may be checked and commercial advertisements at such a large scale are also not commendable because these will not come regularly and the department cannot go far in producing its colourful novelties.
	A suitable size and knife may be worked out keeping in mind the consumers’ requirement, which will minimize printing and processing cost. If commercials are extremely necessary for monetary reason, messages may be printed at the back of the postal stationery. An ambassador only serves its country not the traders.
Numerous envelopes followed the banking lineup, commemorating personalities and various events and institutions.
	Some latest addition to this list is the commemorative envelope-highlighting EARTHQUAKE giving stamp impression with a effected child and the ruins of a buildings. In September 2007, Postal Department extended facility to the public enabling masses to deposit Utility bills; electricity, gas and telephone at the post offices. For that an inscription in three lines was printed to the left of imprint “Aap ki sahulat, hamari khidmat/ post offices mein bijli/gas aur telephone/ ke bill ada kiye ja saktey hein”. The inscription is in blue and magenta and the first row is underlined.
Two more Rs.4 envelopes are issued since then one commemorating 100 YEARS OF HAMDARD (2007) and the latest highlights the PSO services which was introduced early 2008.
Copyright 2008-2009 F. Aleem Sundal

Last updated: June 27, 2009
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