You had mail
That cheque still in the post? Waiting for something that never arrives?
As complaints about Thailand's postal service arrive thick and fast, what options do the public have for a better, safer way to get their mail?
Story By Onsiri Pravattiyagul, Picture by Smith Sutibut
The Thai postal system is slow and parcels often go astray. This can lead to all sorts of trouble, from a favourite magazine taking far too long to arrive, to problems with creditors who fail to receive payments you sent weeks before.
Lost and delayed mail might have been grudgingly accepted in the past, but in today's world of instant electronic communication, having to rely on the postal service – so-called "snail mail" – can be most frustrating.
Kanitha Kungsawanich should know – her June issue of National Geographic arrived in September. To make matters worse, only three more issues arrived at her door – all delivered in December – before they stopped coming altogether.
"I am angry and frustrated. I paid good money for the magazine subscription and I want to read the magazines. I emailed National Geographic and they said they had already sent them," Kanitha said. "So where are they?" Then there's the case of Arthur Dawkins, a long-time resident of Thailand. His friends and family feared he was dead since they did not receive any word from him since he left England for Thailand five years ago.
Dawkins was amazed. "At Christmas, two friends arrived unexpectedly. They said, `What a relief! We and a lot of people in England thought you were dead! Not heard from you in ages!"' In a letter of complaint to Outlook Consumer, Dawkins said he, too, was surprised: He had sent mail to his family and friends but none of it had been received.
"What a disgrace for the Thai postal service. Who is the big boss of this lot? He should be ashamed. He and the rest of his cronies are not doing their jobs," he said.
Dawkins believes his mail was stolen.
In another letter of complaint received by Outlook Consumer, David Richardson, a 10-year Pattaya resident, concurred. He is certain that some postal workers are thieves.
"Ten weeks ago, the two magazines I subscribe to – Aviation Week & Space Technology and Airways – ceased being delivered," Richardson said. "It has come to my attention that somebody in the postal system is selling my magazines."
When such incidents arise and investigations follow, all fingers point to the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) which oversees the Thailand Post.
Woodtipong Moleechad, CAT vice-president for Postal System and Development, admitted quite frankly to Outlook Consumer there was an ongoing problem.
Last year alone, the CAT received 13,776 complaints on lost or delayed domestic mail items; similar complaints on international mail packages stood at 14,730. These included all types of mail from regular, insured, certified and registered, to parcels and EMS.
The CAT handled approximately 1.5 billion pieces of mail last year. The CAT reported there were 2,215 lost or delayed pieces, costing the CAT about two million baht in compensation. (See graphic.) The CAT staff and their procedures are themselves root causes for the disappearance of mail, Woodtipong said.
Such theft usually occurs in the sorting rooms, he said.
"Our staff do steal. We normally have to sack about six to seven staff members every month. We consider theft a serious offence, but you have to understand that the 10,000-something staff can't all be as decent as good monks."
He blames greed and extravagant living as major factors in staff dishonesty.
"They often spend more than they earn. They don't grasp the concept of `sufficient living', so they steal."
For security measures, the CAT has installed closed-circuit cameras to prevent mail theft in the sorting rooms – to no avail.
"They are well aware of where the cameras are, so they know how to avoid them," Woodtipong said with a sigh.
"We also have supervisors who monitor the performance of the staff."
To assume that they work as a team to steal mail is an unproven allegation, he adds, although many believe that such teamwork is quite common at the Thailand Post.
Asked if there was any truth in reports of mafia involvement, with members working internally to steal magazines, especially those that are imported, or cutting out rare stamps and selling them, Woodtipong simply nodded.
"Yes, there are organised gangs. We boot them out in bulk when we catch them. Some cooperate with overseas criminals to steal credit cards from envelopes. Our staff are naive. They sell the cards for 5,000 baht each while the foreign crooks fraudulently ring up five million baht on them. It's our staff that suffers the consequences," Woodtipong said.
"There was also an incident with one of our mail carriers who got drunk and failed to deliver all the mail under his responsibility on a certain day. The next day, he felt overloaded with all the extra mail, thinking he would be unable to distribute it all, so he sought an easy way out – he burned all the letters."
He was fired.
It is crystal clear that more efficient and stringent recruitment is crucial in bettering the overall service. But Woodtipong still doesn't predict substantial improvement in mail handling even should the CAT offer higher pay or extensive training, because greed persists.
To cope with these problems, the CAT has introduced the elaborate technology of optical character recognition (OCR) which reads area codes and separates mail accordingly. However, the technology is not fool-proof as it requires standardised envelopes with addresses printed clearly.
"Only 50 percent of mail can be processed with the OCR, the rest is done manually."
"A sorting error will cause a delay. Delivery errors are also responsible for missing mail since unintended recipients rarely inform us that we've sent mail to the wrong address," Woodtipong explained.
He added that it was human nature to "snoop" in other people's mail, even to tamper with it.
"Can you believe that people who live in a 20-million baht condominium steal their neighbour's mail? … Sometimes they do."
Against this corruption and mismanagement, and bizarre human behaviour, stand various monitoring procedures.
A "monitor check", for example, is carried out a couple of days each week to inspect post office work flow. Two persons are appointed to pick apart every process, said Chanya Wacharapibul, CAT's senior director for the Postal Quality Control Department.
Another procedure is the quality check, which determines how many sorting errors have been made by double-checking every mail bag.
Post offices, both local and district, carry out these quality checks on a routine basis, Chanya said.
There are similar problems on the international front, and the airport is precisely where international mail problems either take off or land.
Woodtipong says the "country of origin" – in this case, Thailand – isn't always solely to blame.
"The customs departments of other countries are just as fussy as ever. In one country in particular, mail from Thailand is singled out and `neatly' piled up in a corner where it waits for a sniffer dog to check it. By doing that, they are putting such mail at risk. Legally speaking, our mail handling responsibility stops at Don Muang airport. Once the mail hits the plane, it's out of our control."
Woodtipong and Chanya agree that the CAT is not solely to blame.
"We have traced some of the problems back to customers. Sometimes they put the wrong address on the package or pack their stuff in badly-sealed, breakable packages. We have issued a rule not to enclose items such as bank notes or pornography, but customers do it anyway," said Woodtipong.
"For example, illegal Thai workers in foreign countries always sneak money in their letters back home. Because of their illegal status, they can't send money through the proper channels. Thus, their risk of losing that money is high."
He insists that not all lost mail is actually stolen. Some gets lost simply because the postman cannot determine the right destination. A fundamental factor contributing to this problem is the increased complexity of various communities across the country.
"The house-numbering system in Thailand is a big mess. New roads appear here and there in an unorganised manner. Communities everywhere keep on changing geographically and the mail senders have no clue as to these changes," Woodtipong said.
To help postmen navigate the labyrinth that is Bangkok, Woodtipong said the CAT has tried to work with other government agencies to allow postmen to keep themselves updated on physical changes in the metropolis.
As Bangkok expands, mail carriers find it even harder to deliver mail to the recipient's door because of security measures.
"Our postmen often have to leave mail under the care of building superintendents. Sometimes, these superintendents fail to pass the mail on to the building's residents and thus, the real receivers never see their mail," Chanya said.
Is there any hope for anxious consumers? "EMS always helps since they have a tracking system and sorting is done in a special room. Also, try not to sent valuable or illegal items through the mail," Woodtipong said.
"Put the correct address and area code on all correspondence. Always wrap your mail up nice and tight," Chanya added.
And if that's not enough? "Then I think we will have to boot all the staff and put robots to work!" Woodtipong said.
– The CAT has provided channels for public complaints about lost mail. Investigations will follow. In the case of Arthur Dawkins, the CAT confirmed, after an investigation, that there was no undelivered mail in the post office at Nakhon Ratchasima where Mr Dawkins lives. As for David Richardson's case, the CAT said his mail is regularly delivered to his address, which happens to be a bar, and that the staff are the ones who collect the mail. The CAT also explained that since both parties' mail was not registered, it was difficult to trace, and thus difficult to figure out where their mail went missing.
Those who wish to request an investigation may contact the CAT directly at PO Box 123, CAT Office, Bangkok 10002, or call Postal Customer Service on 506-3096-8.
Copyright © Asia Intelligence Wire
