From next year, people will no longer have to visit the post office or a mailbox to send a letter.

Korea Post said Tuesday that it will provide a home-collection service starting Jan. 1 that will enable people to wait at home for the mailman to visit when they wish to send a letter. The service will be available for domestic letters and registered mail.

The home-collection service has been available for sending parcels since 1999 but extending the service is expected to inject new vitality into the industry.

“The service is intended for people who have to mail stacks of letters or individuals who don’t have time to visit the post office,” said a Korea Post spokesman.

“We decided to adopt the service after reflecting on opinions from users of the post service who expressed an opinion on improvements. We hope the service will invigorate the mail industry.”

The post office will send a mailman to visit a customer even if he or she wants to mail a single letter. If users call 1588-1300 or make reservations through www.epost.kr, a postman will visit the customer the following day.

The price to send one letter weighing the standard weight of 25 grams is 1,000 won, 6,000 won for 10 letters, 10,000 won for 100 and 20,000 won for 500. These are the discounted prices for group mailings. Stamps will be charged separately. They cost 270 won per letter and 1,900 won per registered mail.

There will be no discounts for deliveries of newspapers, magazines, periodicals, books, and any product advertisements.