A privatized public service offers sub-standard service [1]
Sunday, September 19, 2010 - 11:57. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
Editor:
POSTAL service to Ha'apai used to be OK . . . certainly not top notch, but OK nevertheless. There were occasional delays, mail was sometimes mis-routed, and there were even thefts of registered mail sometimes. Not great service, but basically OK.
Mail used to come to Ha'apai once a week, on the Olovaha. If the Olovaha made the trip, then so did the mail. That was fine. We were content with that level of service. However . . .
Since the postal service has been privatized, and is now called
"Tonga Post", the quality of the mail service has deteriorated
significantly. Now we never know when or if we will get a mail
delivery to Ha'apai.
I know for a fact that I have mail which has been sitting in Nuku'alofa for at least 12 days now . . . the central post office staff confirms that.
Their explanation? First, it was "It hasn't arrived yet." This was stated despite the fact that tracking information (available on the internet) indicated that the mail had indeed arrived from overseas.
Then it was, "Oh, sorry. We put your mail in a Nuku'alofa post
office box by mistake, instead of putting it in the Ha'apai mail bag."
That was last week. Then they said, "We will send it to Ha'apai on Tuesday." But there was no mail delivery on Tuesday. So I called Nuku'alofa again.
"Oh, sorry. It will be there on Friday." Today is Friday, and there was no mail delivery. So, I called Nuku'alofa . . . yet again.
"There was no mail for Ha'apai. Check again on Monday." Pardon me, but there was mail for Ha'apai . . . my mail. Doesn't that count? "Well, there wasn't enough mail, so we didn't send it."
"Enough mail" . . . according to local government officials, who are also having the same difficulties getting their mail . . . is something which weighs more than 2 kilos. If the mailbag weighs less than 2 kilos, then Nuku'alofa doesn't send it, apparently.
So what if the mailbag weighs only 1.99 kilos? Don't the people of Ha'apai deserve the same level of service that is available in Nuku'alofa? In fact, if there is any mail, why doesn't Tonga Post just deliver it?
Postal service is an essential communication service . . . just like telephones. If the government wants to privatize that service, in order to "save money", that's fine. But if that privatized service is then unregulated, and if that unregulated service then becomes obviously sub-standard, then it's time to take another look at what it means to us when the government hands over a basic community service to a private enterprise.
And now, for the "last straw": When I went to the post office last Friday, despite the fact that there was no mail delivery from Nuku'alofa, I was given a letter. The letter was from a business in Nuku'alofa, and it was postmarked "9 Oct 2009".
How is that for service?
P. A. Langi
Pangai, Ha'apai