Postal services

I refer to a letter about post office services by Frank Borg of Hamrun (February 7).

While Maltapost is appreciative of all comments aimed at helping us improve our service standards, it is worth clarifying some points raised in this letter for the sake of accuracy.

Contrary to what was suggested in Mr Borg's letter which alleged that stamps or postal services are only obtainable from Maltapost branches because the majority of stationers are not stocking stamps because they can't afford the time to wait in queues to purchase stamps, it is worth noting that there are close to 400 stamp vendors in Malta and Gozo today.

Furthermore, most of these outlets are availing themselves of a service introduced by Maltapost some months ago whereby stamp supplies over a certain amount are replenished by a Maltapost representative as and when necessary, thus eliminating the need for many stamp vendors to even visit a post office to purchase stamps.

By way of information, the full range of postal services is available at 31 branch post offices in Malta and Gozo, together with a mobile unit and a scaled-down service is also available at a further 19 sub-post offices, mainly in localities where no branch is available.

However, Mr Borg is correct in pointing out that he may have had to queue for longer than usual, possibly on days immediately after the public's receipt of bills following a mass mailing by some public service provider. In order to alleviate this problem, Maltapost is studying the possibility of staggering the mailing of these bills with the consent of the sender or public entity in question in order to have a more regulated queuing pattern.

Furthermore, Maltapost will shortly be introducing dedicated counters for postal services in some outlets on a trial basis. Should the flow improve and queuing time be reduced, this may be extended to other outlets as well.

Regretfully, however, queuing can never be eliminated completely, as a visit to any bank, medical clinic or public office will amply demonstrate.

However, Maltapost shall continue to do its best and increase its efforts to minimise the waiting time and to serve clients promptly.

In this respect, we are grateful for Mr Borg's comments and suggestions and will continue to endeavour to improve our services to customers.