Post offices close during holidays

Post offices close during holidays

JAKARTA: Post offices in the city's five mayoralties will be
closed to the public during the Idul Fitri, Christmas and New
Year's holidays.

"This year, for the first time, we will close because of the
government's decision about the mass leave for civil servants,"
Baharuddin, the secretary of PT Pos Indonesia's Area IV, which
oversees post offices in Jakarta, told Antara on Wednesday.

The Idul Fitri holiday, which formally falls on Friday and
Saturday, has been extended by three days. It will begin on
Thursday and run through Monday. The Christmas holiday has also
been extended by the government by one day to include Dec. 26.
All civil servants are obliged to take leave during the holidays,
with the four additional days being deducted from their annual
leave.

Though the post offices will be closed to the public, the
sorting and delivering of the mail will continue over the
holidays.

"People who want to post mail may do so if the letters already
have stamps," Baharuddin said.

Ahead of the holiday season, Jakartans have been sending more
than 1.2 million pieces of mail a day since Nov. 15, an increase
of between 7 percent and 10 percent over normal days.

The amount of money sent by postal orders has increased to
6,251 orders a day for a total of Rp 1.59 trillion, compared to
5,435 postal orders a day for Rp 1.38 trillion.

The number of packages has also increased to 5,415 a day, an
increase of 15 percent compared to the same period last year.

To deal with the increase, the post office has deployed an
additional 10,000 vehicles, including 8,500 motorcycles, and has
hired 500 temporary employees, mostly students and retirees.
--JP