This is my letter to ST Forum today:

A funny thing happened to me last Friday.

I was expecting a registered parcel and was delighted when the postman identified himself on my security gate intercom. I buzzed him in and stood at my front door facing the lifts, waiting for him to arrive. Despite lots of lift activity, he did not show up even after 15 minutes.

Imagine my surprise when I later checked the online status of my parcel, and it was marked as "delivered to customer" on that very same day. Further tracking with the postal service showed that someone else had signed for my parcel.

Apparently the postman had gone to the wrong floor and unit, and that occupant had accepted my parcel even though he knew it was not meant for him.

The postman is now apologetic and trying to re-trace his steps, going to every floor to check and retrieve my parcel. I doubt it will be fruitful as it is difficult for him to identify the exact same unit. Even so, the occupant can 'act blur' and not return the parcel. The postal service has offered to reimburse me the cost of my item.

A few questions:

(1) The fact that a parcel is registered means that it is important the parcel ends up with the correct recipient. If so, why is someone other than the intended recipient allowed to sign for it? I would rather get a 'failed delivery' note in my mailbox and have to pick it up personally at the post office.

(2) The person signing for the parcel needs to write his or her name and sign on the acknowledgment sheet. However, details of the intended recipient is photocopied onto the same sheet as well. What is stopping the wrong person from copying down the intended recipient's name and signing as the latter?

(3) I appreciate that the postal service is willing to reimburse me for my loss. Yet not everything can be compensated with money. The point of using registered post is to safeguard the item that is being transported, which may have sentimental value or is of high importance to the sender/recipient.

As such, I believe that the postal service needs to improve their registered post system to make it more mistake-proof.

Labels: Cynic In The House