Dear Editor,
In a letter by PRO of the Guyana Post Office Corporation, Ms Yolaskee Jervis in Stabroek News of May 12, captioned ‘The post office has measures in place to expedite the processing of mail,’ it was said my comments were “unfair.” She sought to justify her arguments by painting a nice picture of the processes which the postal company has employed to transport our mail out of Guyana. The writer even blamed the incoming mail service to Guyana. I have news for them. The mail service from the US and Canada is second to none. Mail from North America (New York and Toronto mostly) takes less than a week to get here – at least that is how I observe it to be. While mail from hard-to-reach US states and Canadian provinces may take a little longer, Ms Jervis’s arguments are baseless.
Much of her letter dealt with flights and in-transit woes which hinder the smooth processing of international mail. Well, my statement that the postal service in Guyana is so out-of-date, it makes me sick, digs deeper than the actual processing and delivery of mails. While that is one of the main purposes of any postal service, the postal industry does much more than deliver our mail locally and internationally. It provides other vital services (or should) such as selling stamps, accepting parcels for postage, sending money orders, registering mail, and I could go on and on.
The writer did not address the pathetic service one would experience at most post offices nationwide. Customs officers being late for the days which the post office sets aside for dealing with parcels and packages; the non-availability of stamps, especially in their required denominations; hassling for change for $1000, etc, are some of the more notable problems of the local postal service. I know one can purchase all the items required for posting a letter, card, and even parcel/package right at the post office. In Guyana, you have to visit Metro store to get your envelopes and other stationery then travel to the local post office. There are no perforated envelopes on sale at the post offices, so don’t even think about posting, let’s say a CD or DVD in an ordinary envelope. It really is atrocious.
Someone I know had to buy one hundred and ninety- nine $20 stamps to put on a parcel he was sending to the US – yes 199 $20 stamps! He also complained to me that at that time, (a few months ago), there were no forms to send parcels overseas. He telephoned the Postmaster General and only then were a few sent down to New Amsterdam. Let’s not even talk about the birth certificate forms and marriage forms. These, too, are available only on a periodic basis.
Nowadays, at the post offices, I notice they weigh all cards, especially if they look sizeable. Editor, you know there are some very big greeting cards around. The postal employees would drop that card on their scales, and then calculate the value in stamps which you would have to purchase to send it. That would amount to the hundreds. So, we no longer have a standard $100 for US and Canada mail. The price you pay for stamps to send cards, letters, etc, to the US and Canada depends on the scales of the Guyana Post Office Corporation!
I sent my mother, dad and sister their greeting cards for Mother’s Day and birthdays since April 29. To date, they have not received anything. It took about 7 weeks for another card to get to my sister in New York. It had scotch-tape all over when it got to her, as if they were trying to pry it open to see the contents inside. All it had was a driver’s licence. A friend told me this past week that the birthday card she posted to her uncle since January 2010 has not arrived at its destination as yet. It must be roaming the globe via in-transit flights and making its global sojourn before actually ending up somewhere it should not be in the first place. Now, that is all part of the 21st century service of the Guyana Post Office Corporation.
Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran
