Bangladesh: Most courier services doing business beyond their legal rights

Taking advantage of an ambiguous age-old postal law, most private courier services are doing business outside the purview of their legal rights.

They are carrying both personal and business letters — a task that should be strictly and exclusively the responsibility of the government postal department, officials of the department said.

Courier service personnel who deliver letters to city households and offices hardly know that they are violating the law, The Post Office Act 1898.

Postal department officials said there is a difference between a 'letter' and any other 'document' and the postal department has the exclusive right to carry letters. Private couriers should therefore carry only 'documents'.

According to the section 4 in chapter 2 of the Post Office Act, the government has the exclusive privilege of conveying by post, from one place to another, all letters. The government will also have the exclusive privilege of performing all the incidental services of receiving, collecting, sending, dispatching and delivering all letters.

However, the law fails to make a clear distinction between a letter and other documents. Since no one knows the definitions, private couriers have exploited this ambiguity and begun carrying everything from bulky packages to small personal letters.

"Although the private couriers are being allowed to carry all sorts of objects including letters, it is actually going against the Post Office Act of 1898," said AKM Rafiqul Alam, additional director of the Postal Department.

According to sources at the Dhaka General Post Office (GPO), the postal-charge policy makes a distinction between a letter and other articles.

The postal department defines each article on the basis of its weight and charge the sender accordingly.

According to the policy, any article weighing 250 grams or less will be considered as a letter. Anything weighing more than the 250 grams will be regarded as a document, the sources said.

"Any article weighing 10 grams or below is considered as a standard letter. And anything weighing between 10 and 250 grams is considered as a special letter and the sender has to pay extra charge for it," said a GPO official.

The private courier services have different opinions regarding this matter. Some courier officials expressed ignorance about the Postal Act.

"I do not know if such a law exists but how come this is illegal as dozens of courier services including internationally renowned organisations are doing the same business," said Mostafizur Rahman from Korotowa Courier Service.

"It has been years since we started dealing with letters. How can it be termed as illegal all of a sudden," said an official of Sundarban Courier Service.

"There are thousands of courier services operating throughout the world who deliver letters. Do you think that they are all illegal?" he said.

But Kazi Syed Hossain Faruqi, marketing executive of DHL, said: "When it comes to letters we only carry business or official letters. We do not carry any personal letters, which would be against the postal law."

However, even postal officials admit that the private courier services have deservingly gained a solid reputation for their speedy and efficient services.

Majority of people prefer couriers as they find government postal services unreliable and inconvenient.

"Sending packages from one place to another always involves a lot of apprehension thanks to the unreliable mail delivery system of the postal department and the feeling of whether one will receive the mail or not in time," said Rafiuddin Ahmed, a courier user.

According to sources at the postal department, laws exist in other countries where only the postal department is allowed to carry letters.

"Many countries have adjusted their policies so that there is a harmony between the private couriers and the state-run postal service and no violation of laws. Our country is yet to take any such steps," said a GPO official.

The postal department has recently come up with a suggestion for an amendment to the law defining letters and documents.

"The idea is that all letters or documents weighing less than 250 grams will be carried exclusively by the postal department. Anything that weighs more than that will be free to be carried by anybody else," said AKM Rafiqul Alam.

According to him, the suggestion has already been sent to the ministry concerned. If everything goes according to plans, the Regulatory Reforms Commission will soon implement the adjusted policies.