The service of yore

I can add to the list of Maltapost's unsatisfactory new practices in its services. Until recently I used to receive notices from my local post office in Birkirkara informing me of the arrival of a parcel and asking me to collect it from them. All it took me was a couple of minutes by car or 10 minutes on foot.

On January 14, I received a notice from Maltapost's head office saying they had tried to deliver a bulky parcel at 15.20 and had found no one at home to receive it. For this reason I was requested to call their head office at Marsa and arrange for another delivery at a charge of 75c or else go myself to the head office to collect the parcel.

I should add that earlier that day another parcel was actually delivered to my house at a time when someone was in the house.

Why did Maltapost have to change the previous policy of keeping undelivered parcels at the local post office, if not indefinitely at least for, say, 48 hours? It will take me at least 10 minutes by car to go to Marsa to fetch a parcel addressed to me at home. Just imagine what it would take someone from Mellieha or St Paul's Bay.

I fully agree with the leader of The Times of January 15 that our government, still a substantial shareholder in Maltapost, should insist on a return to previous sound practices in postal delivery.