In Oct, less well-off Singaporeans received $150 in grocery vouchers from the Government to help them with their household expenses during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, as they were sent by post, some vouchers were stolen from letterboxes.
A 2nd round of vouchers will be distributed from Saturday (12 Dec), and this time the authorities are taking no chances.
They’ll be delivered personally to people’s homes on 4 Saturdays, so make sure somebody’s at home if you want to get them ASAP.
In a media release on Sunday (6 Dec), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said the eligible Singaporeans will get $300 of vouchers in 2020, half in Oct and half in Dec.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat posted on Facebook that when the 1st tranche was given out in Oct, some recipients gave feedback on how the distribution process could be improved.
Thus, the 2nd tranche will be delivered directly to homes.
Mr Heng said this method is more secure — ostensibly with the thefts of vouchers in mind.
MOF has arranged with SingPost to deliver the vouchers based on the postal codes of recipients.
They’ll be delivered on 4 Saturdays beginning on 12 Dec, i.e. 12 Dec, 19 Dec, 26 Dec and 2 Jan.
This will increase the likelihood that somebody will be at home to receive the vouchers.
Check out this table to see when your vouchers will be delivered.
Thus, if you live in Clementi, you would have a postal code beginning with the numbers “12”, and your vouchers will be delivered on 12 Dec.
However, if you live in Bishan, your postal code should begin with “57”, and you’ll get your vouchers on 26 Dec.
If nobody is at home to get the vouchers on the 1st delivery, and 2nd delivery will be attempted.
That delivery will be on weekday in the week that immediately follows the day of the 1st delivery.
That means if you were supposed to get the vouchers on 12 Dec but didn’t, the SingPost will try to deliver them to you again from 14-18 Dec (Mon-Fri).
If the 2nd delivery attempt also fails because nobody is at home, a Delivery Notification Card will be left, and you can collect the vouchers at a post office within 10 working days.
Thus, if you’re eager to get the vouchers ASAP, and you don’t want the inconvenience of collecting them from the post office, it would be best to make sure that somebody is at home during the date of the 1st delivery.
If you checked out the chart, you would have noticed that some residents in the northern parts of Singapore like Woodlands and Yishun will have to wait till Jan to get their vouchers.
According to the MOF, the authorities tried to strike a better balance between safety, security and convenience to recipients.
Thus, to reduce the potential for crowds to form, it was decided that the home deliveries and self-collection at the post offices will be spaced out over a slightly longer period.
This would mean that some would get their vouchers in Jan.
The MOF appealed for understanding and patience of recipients who have to wait a longer time.
The vouchers were disbursed as part of the Care and Support Package announced by Mr Heng in his Unity Budget speech in Feb.
Like the 1st tranche of vouchers, to be eligible for them, you must:
About 150,000 Singaporeans got the 1st tranche in Oct, with no application necessary.
Likewise, they’ll still be valid at 4 major supermarket chains in Singapore: NTUC FairPrice, Giant, Prime and Sheng Siong.
There’s also one more tranche of $100 to look forward to in Oct 2021 — bringing the total amount of vouchers to $400.
Any help to tide us over tough times is always welcome, and we thank the Government for their generosity.
It’s also laudable that action was taken to solve the problem of voucher theft this time round.
To get your vouchers ASAP, do remember to stay at home if you can on the day of the 1st delivery.
Let’s all help one another survive this difficult period, and look forward to sunnier days ahead.
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Featured images adapted from Carousell and Facebook.
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