Siliguri, July 1: You have had the postman collecting your mail from the house and you have had Santa knocking at your door with Christmas greeting cards. Come tomorrow, and you will have the postman bringing to your doorstep stamps, inland letters, envelopes, postcards and cards.

In the latest move to revamp the department, the postman saves customers the trouble of visiting post offices for postal stationary.

This was announced at a newsconference held today by North Bengal and Sikkim postmaster-general John Samuel.

The department will post letters to every household with postal delivery details, including the time at which the postman will visit a locality and the route that will be taken by him.

“At the particular time the residents can wait outside and make their necessary purchases of inland letters, postal stamps, post cards, envelopes and even seasonal greeting cards,” he added.

From tomorrow, the postal department is also scheduled to start a twice-a-day delivery system. The move is to ensure faster delivery of letters, said Samuel.

“At present, the ordinary mail is delivered only once a day. The letters arriving at Siliguri head post office after 9 in the morning are held back by a day. The postmen set out on their job in the morning and return only in the afternoon. The postmen will distribute letters first at 10 am and then at 3 pm,” Samuel said. In case of speed post, delivery will be thrice a day.

“Both the systems are being introduced for the first time in the state after several rounds of discussions and workshops with postal officers and postmen. Initially, the service will be introduced only in Siliguri. Depending on its success, it will be extended to other district head-quarters later,” said Samuel.

The new services will be in addition to the green-post system, which the department plans to put into place by the end of this month.

In the past, the postmaster-general has generated quite a few ideas to perk up things at the department and speed up service in a bid to catch up with the popularity of the courier services. Same-day-letter service, restructuring the Darjeeling head post office for tourists, grooming classes for postal staff, home pick-up are some of the new measures that have been introduced.

Samuel added that there will be “special sleuths” watching every move of the postmen. There would also be an award for the best-performing postman, he said.

Post office timings have been altered to suit the public. The post office will function from 8 am to 8 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 4 pm on Sundays.