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The global market for RFID systems including tags in the postal and courier service sector will reach some US$2.5 billion in 2018, according to the 'RFID for Postal and Courier Services 2008-2018' report available from Research and Markets.
With some 40 case studies of RFID in the postal and courier service in North America, Europe, the Middle East and East Asia, the report explains the major breakthroughs that will contribute to RFID's future success in the sector, as well as examining the likely consequences of ignoring the technology.
Item-level tagging?
The report also notes that the postal and courier market for RFID could be much larger than anticipated if current efforts to tag individual items were to gain widespread acceptance. In due course, more than 1 trillion postal items will be tagged each year, potentially making this the second largest application of RFID in the world (after the retail supply chain).
Until now, RFID has been used by the postal and courier sector for little more than the evaluation of postal performance, using tags with a small percentage of letters, and tracking only a small number of conveyances and vehicles. However, with the International Postal Corporation now monitoring mail-flow using RFID technology in more than 50 countries, and Saudi Post tagging its postal boxes, innovation appears to be the way ahead.
Korean trial
There is also a postal RFID system that completely automates the whole process of mail delivery, from accepting the package through to classification and despatch. The system has been successfully tested in Korea this year, and the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) has demonstrated the system to representatives from the country's Ministry of Information and Technology as well as private sector representatives.
The current 'postal package unified information system' uses barcodes, necessitating human effort at every mail centre to scan in mail ID numbers. As a result, there are often inaccuracies during transfer of duties and subsequent delays in mail despatching. The Korean RFID system aims to reduce costs, errors and human intervention and, when perfected, is expected to provide a comprehensive electronic postal system that will minimise logistics costs.
When will RFID be pervasive?
According to the report, it is difficult to estimate when pervasive RFID tagging of most of the courier and letter post will occur but RFID enabled parcels, conveyances, vehicles and trailers are now commonplace, with multiple paybacks often being enjoyed.
RFID is enhancing security and safety and removing time-intensive and error-prone operations. For example, Swedish Post has a parcel that detects and records tampering using RFID tags, and plenty of other innovations abound throughout the world (such as RFID cards controlling driver access to postal vehicles, and RFID-enabled postal sorting equipment). It is not surprising, therefore, than large companies such as Microsoft have event entered the field.
For additional information:
· Visit Research & Markets at http://www.researchandmarkets.com
Source: Research and Markets
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