Dear Editor,
A letter by Moeen Kaini captioned “In some areas there are no house lot numbers” (08.02.09) took my memory back a few years. I suspect that Moeen probably had a difficult time locating an address.
During my tenure at the Post Office and particularly being responsible for Marketing and Customer Relations, campaigns were launched to address this problem.
It must be recognized that for some strange reason, the majority of Guyanese house owners consider their house lot number as top secret. Display it? No way. This must be withheld and closely guarded.
As was correctly deduced letter carriers find it difficult, at times, to locate persons resulting in mail being delayed or undelivered. This is particularly so when a relief postman is involved. In one campaign the letter carriers/postmen, as frontline operatives, were advised to encourage the residents in their districts/delivery walks to proudly display their lot numbers as a guide to all and sundry. This had limited success.
To combine marketing in this effort, we contracted a sign artist to prepare lot number plates which were advertised at post offices countrywide. Many persons recognized the need and orders were made and satisfied.
This was taken a step further to solve the problem of mail being undelivered because no one was at home. Mail boxes were made and for a reasonable cost, the purchaser’s name and lot number were inscribed.
It was and still is frustrating for postmen to be standing at people’s gate shouting “inside, inside” and waiting just to deliver a bill when they can simply place it in a mail box and move on. Another problem is the lack of street name plates to guide people to an address.
I recall in the late 1980’s the post office chose Melanie Damishana for a pilot project to have streets named. Management encouraged the village council to name all the streets and the corporation donated well prepared aluminum plates with all the street names to the community. Are they still there?
So Moeen my friend, the problem is real and education has to be ongoing. The post office, I know, will do its part but citizens must recognize these “missing links” and respond accordingly. I am sure many persons failed to receive some overseas perks simply because they could not be located by visitors.
Yours faithfully,
L. Dunsford Dickson
Asst. PMG (Retired)
