Wed, Jun 23, 2010 page2

• Express mail not always fastest

  RUNNING LATE Despite claiming a same-day delivery service, a study found that 19 percent of express letters did not arrive on the same day

  • By Shelley Huang and Shelley Shan / STAFF REPORTERS
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  The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday said a recent investigation showed that express mail sometimes arrived at the same time or even later than regular mail, and called on Chunghwa Post to make improvements.

  The watchdog recently conducted a test by sending 160 letters — 40 regular letters at NT$5 each, 40 using the express service at NT$12 each, 40 regular registered letters at NT$25 each and 40 using the express registered service at NT$32 per letter. The letters weighed less than 20g and were sent within the same city, from city to county and from city to city.

  The foundation found that of the 40 trials, 10 express items did not arrive earlier than the regular mail. Of the 10, two express items arrived at the same time as regular mail, while eight arrived later than regular mail.

  

  A post office worker collects letters from a mailbox in Taipei City yesterday. The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday announced findings showing that Chunghwa Post’s prompt ­delivery service is often slower than regular delivery, although it costs more.

  PHOTO: CNA

  The test also showed that none of the express items sent in Taipei City and Taipei County arrived earlier than the regular mail.

  “People who think they must spend more to send mail by express to save time have been cheated out of their money,” foundation chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) said.

  The foundation also found that despite the postal service’s claim that intra-city mail sent by express postage would be received on the same day if sent before noon, or received the following morning if sent the previous afternoon before 6pm, this was not the case. Nineteen percent of express mail letters and express registered mail items sent before noon were not delivered on the same day, it said.

  About half of the sample registered letters sent using the express service arrived at the same time as the regular registered mail, which showed that the extra NT$7 paid for each item to be sent using express postage was paid in vain, Hsieh said.

  The post office delivers more than 11 million registered express mail items and more than 90 million pieces of express mail each year. By charging customers an additional NT$7 for each letter sent by express post, Chunghwa Post could generate NT$190 million (US$6 million) each year in extra revenue for services not provided, Hsieh said.

  The foundation urged the nation’s postal service to make improvements immediately and provide a reasonable explanation to consumers if the post office can not make deliveries on time.

  In response, Chunghwa Post thanked the foundation for highlighting the deficiencies, but said there were problems with how the test was run.

  “The sample was not large enough to make it a valid test,” Chunghwa Post vice president Chen Tzu-de (陳賜得) said. “We would also like to know the details of the specific cases to find out exactly what the problems were.”

  “I think the test shows us that there are problems with quality control, but we still collect express delivery mail twice a day and deliver it three times a day, as we have promised to the public,” Chen said.

  Chen said refunding the public, as requested by the Consumer Foundation, would be impossible, as they have respected service requirements and deliver most of the mail on time. Chen said the company could consider suspending the express delivery service, adding that it would assess public opinion to determine whether to continue the service.

  Tseng Ching-hsiung (曾錦雄), director of Chunghwa Post’s department of mail and business operation, said the post office had accelerated the delivery of ordinary mail ever since it started using automated equipment to sort the mail about eight years ago, with ordinary mail sent usually arriving the next day.
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