Delivering progress with what3words and Mongol Post

Addressing around the world simply isn’t good enough. 75% of countries suffer from poor or non-existent addressing. And for the 25% who do have a reliable address, packages still go astray, couriers get lost and local businesses can’t be found.

Something needs to be done to make addressing better.

A 3 word solution

what3words is a precise yet simple addressing system. It uses a global grid of 3m x 3m squares, assigning each one a unique 3 word address.

It’s more accurate than a postal address and more memorable than GPS coordinates. It means people can pinpoint a specific location on the planet and communicate it more quickly and easily than any other method. The system is helping to optimise business, drive social and economic development, and ultimately save lives.

Delivering change in Mongolia

Mongolia covers an area nearly the size of the European Union. Its 3 million people are scattered across the country, from the bustling capital Ulaanbaatar to the remote grass steppes.

With its semi-nomadic population and sparsely populated landscape, the people of Mongolia face unique challenges when it comes to delivering and receiving post. In many parts of the country, citizens have to collect mail from Post Office boxes, often kilometres away from their homes.

Deliveries to a specific address are often only achieved using descriptive landmarks – “past the crossroads, opposite the gas station”. Customers also provide a mobile phone number so a driver can call for directions. Yet still, failed deliveries are commonplace, inconveniencing customers, raising courier costs and holding back the development of businesses and government.

Now, thanks to a landmark partnership between Mongol Post and what3words, the citizens of Mongolia can enjoy accurate and reliable mail deliveries, wherever they live.

Mongol Post is the national postal delivery service and, in 2016, it made the 3 word address system integral to its operations and part of a drive to boost the country’s economic development.

Mongol Post customers can now discover any 3 word address, via the free what3words app, and simply write it on a letter or enter it on the checkout page of a shopping website. Postal workers can then use that unique address to navigate to a precise 3x3m location, at the customer’s front door – whether that’s in the centre of Ulaanbaatar, the informal Ger districts that skirt the capital or a hut on the edge of the Gobi desert.

Mr. Batsaikhan Tsedendamba, CEO of Mongol Post said, “I have been working at the Mongol Post company for 10 years now. During this time, we have been presented with numerous local and international addressing systems and technologies. Of them all, I believe what3words is the most user-friendly and optimal technology”.

what3words and you

Without a precise addressing infrastructure, delivery and logistics becomes both challenging and costly. Every extra minute spent searching for a residential address, a pick up point or a specific location is time and money that will hit your bottom line.

For affected individuals, the lack of a reliable address can stop them from registering to vote, get a passport, open a bank account, or even buy something online.

Our partnership with Mongol Post is just one of the many ways we’re helping logistics and delivery companies – at a local, national and international level – optimise their operations.