Updated 5pm with MaltaPost response

Long queues crowded pavements along the main thoroughfare in St Paul's Bay on Saturday morning, as people breached social distancing guidelines in an attempt to be served at their local post office.  

The queue foe the post office in St Paul's Bay at 8am this morning

Times of Malta readers sent in pictures of footage of long lines starting as early as 7.30am at the MaltaPost outlet on Triq San Pawl in St Paul's Bay, with the queue snaking down the road and winding around corners all the way down to the coast. 

Many of those waiting appeared to be closer together than the two-metre distance recommended as safe by public health officials, although others kept a good distance apart.

A St Paul's Bay resident who spoke to Times of Malta said that long queues for the post office had become a common occurrence in the locality. The situation was exacerbated by similar queues regularly forming outside a bank outlet right across the road. 

"I would say there was a line of around 200 feet (60 metres), with people queuing in the hot sun and making it difficult for everyone else to use the pavement or reach the other establishments in the road," he said. 

"It's a bit difficult to socially distance like this. I feel like these essential outlets could increase their opening hours if they know so many people need to make use of them". 

Other residents blamed the lengthy queues on incorrect attempts to deliver government vouchers, forcing people to physically collect the vouchers from t he MaltaPost outlet themselves.

Angela* was one such resident. 

She told Times of Malta that she was there to collect her vouchers, which are being delivered as registered mail items. 

"A few days ago I noticed the postman dropping our letters off and I went to collect them a few hours later. There was a notification of missed delivery, which I found odd since no one had rung the bell or knocked."

"I didn't think much of it, but when I was in line to collect the vouchers, I was chatting with a few other people who said the same thing had happened to them."

Part of the new normal

Senior management at Maltapost who spoke to Times of Malta acknowledged the situation and said that to maintain social distancing guidelines it wasn’t possible to allow people to wait indoors. Queues, the company said, were part of a new normality that came with living with COVID-19. 

The company said that undertaking the delivery of the government vouchers was the largest operation it had ever undertaken and that 70 per cent of the 400,000 registered letters delivered had been successful first-try deliveries. 

While it could not vouch for employees who may have slacked in their duties, MaltaPost said it had doubled the amount of staff in high volume outlets, including St Paul’s Bay, with members of management assisting with deliveries where necessary. 

The spokesperson also mentioned that in cases of non-delivery, it is often the case that the doorbell of the residence does not function correctly or residents did not respond in a timely fashion. 

With the demographics of St Paul’s Bay including a high amount of third-country and European nationals, the spokesperson said that their vouchers had been sent to the address the resident had provided to the government and if the person had since moved, successful deliveries become more difficult. 

“Postal operators leave an individual personalised note that must be presented at the post office every time they do not find someone at home. It is not in their interest not to deliver,” the spokesperson said. 

This would result in additional work once the operator returns to the postal hub.

Arrangements have also been made for some of the vouchers to be picked up at the Qawra post office.

Concerns about the lengthy queues forming in the hot August sun were highlighted by the General Workers' Union pensioners branch earlier this week.

The union branch said that shops and essential services should introduce measures to allow senior citizens and vulnerable people to avoid having to wait in line and suggested extending the validity of government vouchers to beyond the end of September.    

Each Maltese resident is receiving €100 worth of vouchers to spend on shops, restaurants or hotels, as part of a government initiative to spur the pandemic-struck local economy.  

*name has been changed

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.