Stamps of disapproval

18 August 2015 - 02:03 By Wendy Knowler

My sister emigrated to the US in 1995. For 19 years we posted birthday and Christmas gifts to each other and our children, all delivered in good time and intact. Those days, it seems, are over.The three-month strike that devastated deliveries was over by the end of November, and radio adverts were earnestly urging us to support the Post Office again, despite the backlogs.Unconvinced, last Christmas my US family received money via PayPal instead of their customary parcel of South African goodies.It saddens me that the tradition had to end, but my inbox tells me that handing over a precious parcel at a Post Office - and paying hundreds of rands to deliver it to my US relatives - remains unacceptably risky.Christmas in JulyIn April, when Darlene Holtz of Pietermaritzburg sought my help, it had been four months since she posted a Christmas parcel to her family in Australia, and still it had not been delivered. This was after she was assured by Post Office counter staff in December that the strike was over and all was well.Holtz had been told that her parcel was in a shipping container stranded at Durban harbour because of a lack of funds.I took up the case with the Post Office, asking for the parcel to be delivered or returned to Holtz. Many follow-up e-mails later, the parcel was delivered to Holtz's family a few weeks ago, giving new meaning to the southern hemisphere's "Christmas in July".Handicapped golf cart deliveryClive Balchin's nightmare began when a R2000 golf cart he had bought from a Johannesburg shop broke, and the retailer told him that as they were no longer agents for it, he should get in touch with the US manufacturers.He did, and they agreed to replace it free of charge, posting a cart in mid-March. Balchin heard nothing until May, when he received two notices from the Post Office requesting an invoice.He sourced one from the US supplier and sent it on, but by late June, when he had made no progress, he contacted me for help.The Post Office told me that "all (non-gift) items coming in from overseas are liable to SARS and customs duties as well as VAT and a handling fee from the Post Office", based on the cost of the item, so only when an invoice was provided would the item be released for delivery.Balchin redirected the invoice and last week he was invited to fetch the cart from Kempton Park. As that is out of his way, he asked for it to be delivered, but was told the Post Office had "transport constraints".The US manufacturer, having heard of Balchin's postal woes, sent him another cart, free of charge, via courier. It was delivered to his door within days.In June, a Post Office spokesman told me: "The Post Office is well aware that online shopping and the parcels market are growing. Because this market is essential for the future of the Post Office, we are working very hard to make sure that our service is at a level where customers choose the Post Office for its service levels and not only for its pricing."Clearly not hard enough, sadly.Not boxing cleverLast month, writer Suzanne Brenner was annoyed to discover that the PO box she pays for in1st Avenue, Melville, had been locked on the inside.She alerted me, and I queried this with the Post Office, which advised: "Mail for the post boxes at Melville Post Office that has closed down can be collected from the old Auckland Park Post Box section between 8am and 3pm."When Brenner got there on Wednesday at 2pm she was told "the person" had already left.On Thursday morning she returned, "to be met by post that can only be described as dumped"."One staffer looked helpless when I gave her my box number and promised to inform her supervisor, but I'm not holding my breath."CONTACT WENDY:E-mail: consumer@knowler.co.zaTwitter: @ wendyknowlerMail MaelstromResponding to reports last week that some post offices were refusing to accept mail, saying that the parastatal has no money for fuel in order to deliver mail, acting PO CEO Mlu Mathonsi "regrettably cautioned" consumers to expect "sporadic delays" owing to "fleet management operational challenges". A day later Mathonsi announced that the "conveyance delays" had been resolved and "full service" was restored from Friday. The delays were not caused by a payment dispute, he said.COURIER USERS BEWAREAs the Post Office has become ever more unreliable, so people are increasingly using couriers to send and receive goods.A word of caution: check with friends, colleagues and online before choosing a courier, and always open a parcel in front of the courier service driver, because, if you discover damage after signing the "received in good order" document, you'll probably have a hard time proving your case...

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