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