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