Saudi goes hi-tech in mail delivery from next year
Habib Shaikh

JEDDAH – Saudi Arabia is going hi-tech in mail delivery beginning next year, according to Dr Usamah Altaf, vice-president of Saudi Post.

Saudis and expatriate residents in the Kingdom will have a mailing address that is as simple as one’s name and a zip code.

“In fact, you don’t even need to write down your name if you don’t want to, unless you would want to differentiate your mail from your wife’s,” Altaf was quoted as saying in a local daily recently.

No fuss. No mess. No post office boxes. Not even a street name is required on the envelope.

Due to the way cities have grown without a whole lot of planning, house and business addresses in Saudi Arabia are on the chaotic side. To go somewhere, you have to learn the landmarks, get physical descriptions of the building, and have good luck. Most buildings don’t have numbers; many streets don’t even have names—or if they do, people aren’t aware of them. This has made mail delivery difficult, to say the least.

This article from Khaleej Times describes a new system the Saudi government is implementing that should resolve the problem of mail delivery. Interestingly, it’s also expected to tie in to GPS navigation systems in cars. That will solve the problem of having to call ahead—or while en route—to figure out how to get to someone’s house, particularly after dark, on unlighted streets.