Sponsored top-level domainsDNSSEC
Overview
.post is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) operated by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) for the global postal community. It is reserved for postal-sector stakeholders and secured with DNSSEC. The TLD was created to identify legitimate postal services online and to integrate physical, financial and electronic postal capabilities such as e-post, e-finance, e-commerce and e-government services.
History
- ICANN approved the .post sponsorship application during the second group of new TLD approvals (application process reported in 2004–2005).
- The UPU and ICANN signed a sponsorship/management agreement on 11 December 2009, giving the UPU managing authority for the string.
- The string was delegated to the DNS root (entered the root zone) in August 2012; IANA shows delegation to the TLD registry on 8 August 2012.
- The UPU initially selected CORE as a backend provider but, after a bidding process, Afilias was chosen as the registry backend in 2011.
- Poste Italiane and other postal operators supported the launch effort; Poste Italiane provided financial support toward the TLD's setup and launch.
Usage and Audience
- Intended users:
- UPU member postal administrations
- National and regional post offices
- Organizations and businesses in the postal sector and related services
- Typical uses:
- Official postal service websites and customer interfaces
- Postal e-services such as online parcel/letter services and postal electronic messaging
- Specialized postal services (an example service noted is Postal Registered Electronic Mail, PREM)
- Adoption notes:
- A Dot Post Group (DPG) of postal operators was formed to oversee development; as of October 2014, a subset of UPU members were active participants and some had launched .post sites.
- Early live registrants included postal services in Italy, Brazil and Malaysia.
Registration Rules
- .post is a sponsored TLD restricted to the postal community; registrants must be approved members of the .post Sponsored Community before registering.
- The UPU requires applicants to obtain a .post Community ID as part of the authentication process and verifies eligibility prior to domain allocation.
- Applicants must provide legal proof of ownership of the requested string and fit into one of the defined Registrant Groups under the .post Domain Management Policy.
- The TLD uses structured naming rules for second- and third-level registrations and enforces full authentication and verification of eligible registrants.
SEO and Brand Impact
- .post is positioned as a trust and authenticity signal for postal services online: it aims to identify legitimate postal operators and reduce confusion for users and businesses.
- Security measures such as DNSSEC and sponsorship by the UPU contribute to the domain's trustworthiness and brand positioning within the postal sector.
- Stakeholders and supporters described .post as offering a "secure and trusted environment" for customers of postal online services.
Notable Cases or Examples
- The Universal Postal Union became the first U.N. agency to secure and manage its own top-level domain.
- Afilias serves as the registry backend provider for .post.
- Poste Italiane contributed funding and signed a cooperative agreement with the UPU to help launch .post.
- Early live .post deployments included national postal operators in Italy, Brazil and Malaysia; some operators offer traditional postal interfaces online and services such as PREM.
Operator
Whois
% IANA WHOIS server % for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org % This query returned 1 object domain: POST organisation: Universal Postal Union address: Weltpoststrasse 4 address: Bern CH-3015 address: Switzerland contact: administrative name: TLD Administrator organisation: Universal Postal Union address: Weltpoststrasse 4 address: Bern CH-3015 address: Switzerland phone: +41 31 350 34 50 fax-no: +41 31 350 31 10 e-mail: dotpost@upu.int contact: technical name: Howard Eland, Senior Director, DNS Infrastructure Group organisation: Identity Digital Inc. address: 10500 NE 8th Street, Suite 750 address: Bellevue WA 98004 address: United States of America (the) phone: +1.425.298.2200 fax-no: +1.425.671.0020 e-mail: tldtech@identity.digital nserver: V0N0.NIC.POST 2a01:8840:0:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.0.1 nserver: V0N1.NIC.POST 2a01:8840:1:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.1.1 nserver: V0N2.NIC.POST 2a01:8840:2:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.2.1 nserver: V0N3.NIC.POST 2a01:8840:3:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.3.1 nserver: V2N0.NIC.POST 2a01:8840:4:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.4.1 nserver: V2N1.NIC.POST 2a01:8840:5:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.5.1 ds-rdata: 35725 8 2 5b8265dc3f1952980ab5369253c4a4ed9d674d91b8c39360b22a7deaef168fe0 whois: whois.nic.post status: ACTIVE remarks: Registration information: http://www.upu.int created: 2012-08-07 changed: 2025-05-15 source: IANA