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Post office overseas express delivery hits major hiccup
Camilo Thame
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Just five months after it formally re-introduced its overseas express mail delivery system, the Jamaica Post & Telegrams has reported a major hiccup, with the government-run company unable to account for some packages that should have reached their destinations a month ago.
"It has never happened before," laments Gordon Brown, public relations and marketing manager for Jamaica Post & Telegrams - the operating arm of the island's postal service.
The new Express Mail Service (EMS) was unveiled in December last year with the promise to delivery packages to the USA within three to five working days - as part of an ongoing effort by the post office to drag its services into the 21st century.
But some packages sent from the beginning of June have failed to arrive at their destination, with at least one postal worker who tracks the packages saying that the post office had no idea where they were.
However, yesterday Brown insisted that it was the first time the problem had occurred, and blamed it on the failure of the overseas courier service with which the post office had partnered to execute the overseas end of the delivery.
"We only recently teamed up with this organisation," he said. "It is a well-known player in the international courier sector and because of their credibility and strength, we teamed up with them in this capacity to administer the transition from point to point overseas."
The revamped express system was the postal service's second attempt at offering Jamaicans quick delivery to the USA, Canada, and the UK, and at a price that was more expensive than regular mail, but more competitive than the private sector commercial services.
The first attempt at introducing the service - apparently in the late 1990s - was discontinued in 2002 because it lacked a suitable tracking mechanism that would allow the postal service to pinpoint the location of its packages.
The result of this deficiency, according to Brown was the regular displacing of items for long periods.
"The postmaster general took a decision to stop the service in 2002 because it was not customer friendly and sometimes packages went wayward, which is totally unacceptable,"
Brown told the Business Observer. "One of the foundations of the system is that you are supposed to know where the item is. Given past experience, bilateral agreements were established with Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States to have a suitable working arrangement."
The revamped service was introduced in September 2004 as a pilot project ahead of the formal launch in December.
This time, there was in place the tracking capability - via a bar-coding system, that assigns each item with a unique registration number -which enabled constant monitoring of location, thus improving the reliability of delivery.
The bar code accelerates processing and allows for instant recognition of the item, eliminating the "human error" - a factor inherent when individuals are depended on to decipher handwriting.
The items are typically handled internationally between corresponding postal administrations, but apparently the system in place from Jamaica calls for the consolidation of the packages in Miami, which requires management by a courier company.
However, Brown said yesterday that the courier failed to follow procedure, causing huge delays in the system and for the whereabouts of some items to be unknown.
The Business Observer has not been able to ascertain the full scope of the problems, or precisely when it actually started, and if in fact packages currently being sent abroad face a similar danger.
Brown says the postal service is still trying to make an assessment.
"We are in touch with this international partner to get assistance through their means to get a handle on the situation," he said. "Unfortunately we have not been able to do so...However, I do not expect this to happen again."
It also remains unclear, the limit on any compensation that the post office offers to affected customers, though, according to Brown, customers would be assisted on a case by case basis.
"We have been trying to assist our customers who are essentially the backbone of the organisation," he asserted.
"In a couple of cases we have worked out an arrangement with the individual customers whereby we stood the cost of getting those documents prepared and signed and expedited to the foreign country that it was originally destined for."
The delivery time of three to five working days is based on a combination of agreements made between postal administrations, and on airline schedules. For instance, flights to the US and Canada are daily, while Caribbean deliveries are staggered.
The rates range from $800 to $1,200 for the first kilogram, depending on destination and carries a charge of $120 for each additional half of a kilogram.
Post office overseas express delivery hits major hiccup
Camilo Thame
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Just five months after it formally re-introduced its overseas express mail delivery system, the Jamaica Post & Telegrams has reported a major hiccup, with the government-run company unable to account for some packages that should have reached their destinations a month ago.
"It has never happened before," laments Gordon Brown, public relations and marketing manager for Jamaica Post & Telegrams - the operating arm of the island's postal service.
The new Express Mail Service (EMS) was unveiled in December last year with the promise to delivery packages to the USA within three to five working days - as part of an ongoing effort by the post office to drag its services into the 21st century.
But some packages sent from the beginning of June have failed to arrive at their destination, with at least one postal worker who tracks the packages saying that the post office had no idea where they were.
However, yesterday Brown insisted that it was the first time the problem had occurred, and blamed it on the failure of the overseas courier service with which the post office had partnered to execute the overseas end of the delivery.
"We only recently teamed up with this organisation," he said. "It is a well-known player in the international courier sector and because of their credibility and strength, we teamed up with them in this capacity to administer the transition from point to point overseas."
The revamped express system was the postal service's second attempt at offering Jamaicans quick delivery to the USA, Canada, and the UK, and at a price that was more expensive than regular mail, but more competitive than the private sector commercial services.
The first attempt at introducing the service - apparently in the late 1990s - was discontinued in 2002 because it lacked a suitable tracking mechanism that would allow the postal service to pinpoint the location of its packages.
The result of this deficiency, according to Brown was the regular displacing of items for long periods.
"The postmaster general took a decision to stop the service in 2002 because it was not customer friendly and sometimes packages went wayward, which is totally unacceptable,"
Brown told the Business Observer. "One of the foundations of the system is that you are supposed to know where the item is. Given past experience, bilateral agreements were established with Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States to have a suitable working arrangement."
The revamped service was introduced in September 2004 as a pilot project ahead of the formal launch in December.
This time, there was in place the tracking capability - via a bar-coding system, that assigns each item with a unique registration number -which enabled constant monitoring of location, thus improving the reliability of delivery.
The bar code accelerates processing and allows for instant recognition of the item, eliminating the "human error" - a factor inherent when individuals are depended on to decipher handwriting.
The items are typically handled internationally between corresponding postal administrations, but apparently the system in place from Jamaica calls for the consolidation of the packages in Miami, which requires management by a courier company.
However, Brown said yesterday that the courier failed to follow procedure, causing huge delays in the system and for the whereabouts of some items to be unknown.
The Business Observer has not been able to ascertain the full scope of the problems, or precisely when it actually started, and if in fact packages currently being sent abroad face a similar danger.
Brown says the postal service is still trying to make an assessment.
"We are in touch with this international partner to get assistance through their means to get a handle on the situation," he said. "Unfortunately we have not been able to do so...However, I do not expect this to happen again."
It also remains unclear, the limit on any compensation that the post office offers to affected customers, though, according to Brown, customers would be assisted on a case by case basis.
"We have been trying to assist our customers who are essentially the backbone of the organisation," he asserted.
"In a couple of cases we have worked out an arrangement with the individual customers whereby we stood the cost of getting those documents prepared and signed and expedited to the foreign country that it was originally destined for."
The delivery time of three to five working days is based on a combination of agreements made between postal administrations, and on airline schedules. For instance, flights to the US and Canada are daily, while Caribbean deliveries are staggered.
The rates range from $800 to $1,200 for the first kilogram, depending on destination and carries a charge of $120 for each additional half of a kilogram.
Post office overseas express delivery hits major hiccup