Qatar Post (formerly Q-Post) is the national provider of
postal services
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...
in
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
.
Its headquarters building, the General Post Office, has been on the
Doha Corniche
The Doha Corniche ( ar, كورنيش الدوحة) is a waterfront Esplanade, promenade extending for along Doha Bay in Qatar's capital city, Doha. Annual celebrations of national holidays such as Qatar National Day and National Sports Day#Qatar, ...
since 1988.
The company was established in 1950 as the General Postal Corporation and the country's first
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
opened in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
that same year.
At first, in compliance with treaty obligations, British stamps were in use. These were issued in Indian
rupee
Rupee is the common name for the currencies of
India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
denominations with QATAR over-printed in English.
The first date-stamp was used for registered letters at Doha Post Office on 17 May 1953.
Additional post offices were opened at
Dukhan
Dukhan ( ar, دخان) is a city in the western municipality of Al-Shahaniya in the State of Qatar. It is approximately west of the capital, Doha. Dukhan is administrated by Qatar's state oil agency QatarEnergy and is the site of the first oil ...
in 1956 and at
Umm Said
Mesaieed ( ar, مسيعيد, also transliterated as ''Musay'id'' and ''Umm Sa'id'') is an industrial city in Al Wakrah Municipality in the State of Qatar, approximately south of Doha. It was one of the most important cities in Qatar during the ...
in 1960.
In 2009, it was announced that Qatar had won the bid to host the 25th
Universal Postal Union Congress (UPU) in 2012. The event was held from September to October 2012.
Qatar Post has been part of the Ministry of Transport and Communication since 2013 and is exclusively the national provider of postal services in the country.
The service has seen considerable expansion. There were only three direct dispatches of overseas mail in 1963 and this had increased to well over 100 by 2018. The country has more than 130 post-boxes with daily collections. Qatar Post operates the country's largest vehicle fleet, ranging from motor bikes to large trucks.
See also
*
Postage stamps and postal history of Qatar
Qatar was a British protectorate from 1916 till it gained independence on 3 September 1971. Until 1950, the country's postal service was administered by an Indian post office in Bahrain. A British office was opened in Doha and sold stamps of B ...
References
External links
Official website
Philately of Qatar
Communications in Qatar
Government-owned companies of Qatar
Postal organizations
{{Postal administrations of Asia