SingPost Wants To Lessen Workload Of Postmen & Introduce Pay Incentives
SingPost was fined $100,000 by the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) on Thursday (7 Feb) for failing to deliver mail on time.
IMDA adds that SingPost failed to meet the delivery of 99% of local letters to addresses within the Central Business District (CBD) and 98% of local letters to destinations outside of it by the next working day.
SingPost has explained the reasons for its failure to meet the service standards, and possibly why recent service failures occurred.
Increased workload caused service failures
The rise of e-commerce and cheaper postage has led to a significant increase in workloads, as reported by Channel NewsAsia.
On average, each postman carried out 50 to 60 doorstep deliveries per day during the seasonal e-commerce surge in the last few months.
The number of parcels delivered to doorsteps greatly exceeds that mail dropped in letterboxes.
Measures to improve service standards
These are the quantitative and qualitative measures SingPost has promised to take, to hopefully alleviate the situation.
- Hire 100 more postmen
- Redeploy 35 mail-drop drivers as Full-Time postmen
- More dedicated counters & staff at post offices
- Reduce non-core mail businesses like ads
- Focus on core mail delivery
- Upgrade the skills of postal workers
- Increase postmen salaries
- Provide incentives for successful deliveries
They’ll also be extending mail delivery slots to weekday evenings & Saturdays, and offering overtime pay for postmen volunteering to work in those slots.
Restoring our trust
For the past 160 years, SingPost has been Singapore’s postal service provider.
Apart from the recent mishaps, SingPost has been delivering trusted and reliable services to homes and businesses in Singapore.
Hopefully, the $100,000 fine will act as a deterrence, and truly lead to all the promised measures by SingPost being internalised by the company.
This is for the betterment of not only the postmen who toil away, but also for customers sitting at the edge of their seats, waiting for their beloved parcel to arrive.
SingPost has made a mistake and promised to do better. We hope that they’ll make good on their promises to restore our trust in them.
Featured image from SingPost.
