Before mobile phones, a letter was how most Ghanaians kept in touch with family in another town or abroad. Post offices were busy places, with queues for stamps and rows of numbered boxes where families and businesses collected their mail. Ghana Post, the national postal company, still runs that network today. Its business has changed sharply, but the old General Post Office in central Accra remains a landmark.
Colonial beginnings and the GPO
Postal services in the Gold Coast date back to the colonial period, when mail was carried between towns and overseas by ship. Over time, a network of post offices spread across the colony. After 1957, postal and telecommunications services were run together for many years. They were later separated, and Ghana Post Company Limited became the body responsible for mail.
The General Post Office in central Accra, near the old business district, served as the hub for mail in the capital. Generations of Accra residents queued there to send letters and parcels.
Post boxes and competition
Because many streets in Ghana lacked formal addresses, post office boxes became the standard way to receive mail. Businesses, churches and families rented boxes, and box numbers were printed on letterheads and business cards. Private courier companies, email and mobile phones reduced the volume of letters. Ghana Post faced financial difficulties and had to look for new sources of income.
Parcels, money transfers and GhanaPostGPS
The growth of online shopping has created new demand for parcel delivery. Ghana Post has sought to compete in this area alongside private couriers. Postal money orders and transfer services have long been part of the company’s work, though mobile money has taken much of that market. In 2017 the government launched GhanaPostGPS, a digital address system that gives every location a code. Ghana Post’s name was attached to the system, linking the old postal brand to a new digital service.
Today and the building
Ghana Post continues to operate post offices across the country. Some branches have been modernised, while others struggle with old buildings and low traffic. The old head office stands in the commercial heart of the capital, among banks and government buildings. Many Accra residents still use it as a landmark when giving directions. Few Ghanaians under thirty have ever rented a post office box. Many of them, though, carry a GhanaPostGPS code on their phone, and that code still carries the old company’s name.
