Quicker by air?
Quicker by air?
From Media Indonesia
On Jan. 31 1997, I sent a parcel to my brother at 6/95
Sherwood Road Toowong, Brisbane, Australia. I sent the package by
airmail from the Rawa Barat Post Office, South Jakarta at a cost
of Rp 92,800.
Two weeks later I called to check if the package had reached
its destination. Unfortunately the mail had not arrived. I called
the Post Office and was told that the South Jakarta Post Office
dispatched the parcel on Feb. 1, 1997, after which I was shown
the complete data.
The Indonesian Post Office believes they have finished their
job and they are no longer obliged to make further inquiries. But
they suggested that my brother should make inquiries at the
nearest post office. Following my advise, my brother contacted
several post offices in the vicinity, but with no result.
Unexpectedly, one day we received a letter from a certain Mr.
Gunawan of 5/11 Morrison Rd, Gladesville, Sydney. He had received
the parcel in a damaged condition, which made it near impossible
for him to decipher the sender's name and address. He fetched the
parcel and was charged the equivalent of Rp 221,600. It turned
out that the address to my brother was incomplete.
On April 1, 1997 he sent me another letter, which I passed on
to my brother so he could pick up the parcel from Gunawan in
Sydney.
A similar incident happened when I sent a parcel to another
brother living in Perum Tawang Sari Permai III Block B33, Taman
Sidoardjo. I sent the parcel express airmail on May 5, 1997, at a
cost of Rp 4,950. Ten days later, when I checked with my brother,
the parcel had not yet arrived. I sent him the post office
receipt. After making several inquiries, the package finally
arrived on June 1997.
From these two experiences, I have come to the conclusion that
PT Pos Indonesia's expertise still falls short of customers
expectations, despite the use of new and sophisticated equipment.
I am very concerned, especially about express letters and express
money transfers, which seem to take more than a week to reach
their destination.
A foreign friend of mine joked once that airmail was slower
than sea mail.
DR. H. AZIS E. SIREGAR
Jakarta