The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMAS Postal Service is testing the efficiency of its local mail delivery service, acting Postmaster General, Leslie Cartwright, told Tribune Business yesterday, acknowledging complaints of mail being weeks late in some instances. His comments came after private sector executives said they were receiving bills and bank statements for reconciliation some six weeks after they were posted, complaining that they "can't survive in this environment". An office/accounts manager at a major property firm, speaking to Tribune Business on condition of anonymity, said the firm's November bank statement - a vital account reconciliation control - had only arrived on January 17, 2012, over a month after its December 12 posting date. It was the same story, they said, with the likes of utility bills and invoices from suppliers seeking payment. The latter were being received up to six weeks' late, and the source said they presumed return cheques - if sent in the post - also took six weeks to each their destination. "All businesses are on a shoestring budget, they don't have cash flow and can't survive in this environment," the source told Tribune Business. "Any businessperson will tell you this. A number are sending drivers to pick up cheques, as they can't wait six weeks to pick them up. "The Post Office is dysfunctional. They need to be kicked on their backside. They are holding the business community hostage. The more people rely on electronic mail, the less material the Post Office handles, and the less reliable they seem to become." In an interview with Tribune Business yesterday, Mr Cartwright noted that the postal service often conducts tests, and that complaints regarding mail delivery are taken "very seriously". "We have been receiving complaints about late delivery, and we are looking into the complaints as they come to see what we can discover because, even though we are somewhat shorthanded with staff, it's not like it's more than a couple of days behind schedule," he said. "With local mail we may be two to three days behind the normal delivery period, but when it's running into weeks - as some of the complaints are saying - we have to look at whether those items were indeed mailed, or whether the person had come by to collect the mail. There are some variables we don't have a full grip on." Mr Cartwright added: "We put out the test and are waiting on the results now. We are doing tests from various points in the island to see what the delivery time would be. We are sending mail out and dropping them off in various mailboxes in various areas, asking persons for their responses just to see if there is something going on, whether there is something the department can improve on. "That is a constant exercise we do here. We are getting some complaints from the Family Islands, and we are sending some mails through to the Family Islands. We are having them stamp that mail and send it back to us so we can see the length of time it takes." Mr Cartwright said the postal service continues to see a number of complaints regarding international mail. "I wouldn't say there has been a large amount, but it's more than we normally get at this point," he added. "There are more international complaints that we are receiving. Most of the complaints that we looked at, they're international. Persons are complaining about mail taking an inordinate period of time." Mr Cartwright said attempts were still being made to negotiate with the US Postal Service (USPS) to have mail headed for this nation put on direct flights. He explained: "Mail coming from certain parts of the United States is taking a lengthy period of time, and that's not something we can control. Since September 11, the US has changed its mail delivery method. With certain states, their mail must be forwarded to New Jersey, and the US post office has made some arrangements with some of the foreign carriers for that mail to be transhipped though Jamaica. That's where the problem is "Jamaica does not have the airlift capacity, nor do they have the connecting flights to connect with some of the islands. Fortunately for the Bahamas there are flights coming directly from Jamaica here, but there but there are some islands that have no flight connections with Jamaica, and so they are complaining also." Mr Cartwright said complaints have been lodged with the US regarding this issue. "We have made complaints with the US that we would prefer to have our mail shipped directly here to us because we have almost 100 international flights coming in to the Bahamas from the US on a daily basis," he told Tribune Business. "We have asked them to look at that. We were supposed to meet with the US and Canada in a forum but, unfortunately, I was unable to attend. They had agreed to spend a few hours and discuss the matter with us. I am trying now with the US to see if we can still work out this matter." Mr Cartwright said he believed that cost may be playing a factor in the issue. "I believe cost is a factor. I think the airline, Air Jamaica, is offering a cheaper rate." Mr Cartwright said that once the mail arrives it is delivered between a 48 to 72 hour period." The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation's (BCCEC) chairman, Winston Rolle, told Tribune Business that while he had not received any complaints from the business community regarding postal service, his office had been plagued with the issue of late mail delivery. "We've experienced this issue as well," he said. "We had a cheque mailed to us from one of our members; the cheque was sent to us and stamped in May, but never made it to us until about November or December. We had to go back to the company and have them send us a new cheque. We thought it was an anomaly." Mr Rolle added: "Certainly, it's extremely inconvenient. It goes back to the old saying: 'The cheque's in the mail', where persons will use that excuse to circumvent paying their bills. No one has called us complaining about the issue, but that is not to say they are complaining in their own circles." Former Chamber of Commerce president and SuperWash chief, Dionisio D'Aguilar, told Tribune Business: "I hear complaints about the post office all the time. It's probably one of the worst-run government entities. It's like a step child, an afterthought, but some people still use it to send bills and what not. It's just sat there and languished for years. It's definitely a dying dinosaur. It's so antiquated it's laughable."