Can it be true that a letter sent from Cairo on Oct. 24, 2001 reached Jeddah at the end of December 2001? How many flights are there every day between the two cities? And what about a letter mailed in Jeddah to a well-known firm in Riyadh which ended up in a shop in Jeddah? Should we laugh or cry about this service? As everyone knows, the list could go on for days; as everyone also asks, "Why is nothing done to improve things?"
Many people have submitted complaints to the proper authorities. The reply was predictably a defense of the smooth operations and effectiveness of the postal service. It is true that nobody is perfect and that we all make mistakes but it is disgusting when we deny our faults and gloss over our shortcomings in so irrational a way. It is usual here in the Kingdom for department heads to get furious when errors and mistakes are pointed out to them. What would be much better would be to investigate the alleged errors and mistakes, penalize those responsible and make changes so that the same things do not happen again. Public comment and feedback can be very useful for evaluating performance and we should use it seriously.
I myself last wrote about the post office some fifteen years ago. I remember the article which spoke of deterioration in service; I must add that I add the documents to support my claims. The post office manager at the time insisted, however, that I was wrong and that the post office was right. Not only that but he also accused me of shallowness and said that what I wrote was not in the public interest. As charges and countercharges were made, I thought the director general of the postal services would surely step in and investigate. Nothing of that sort happened of course. The case was simply closed and the complaints ignored. I can’t say it was a surprise to me because I know that this is the way we deal with our own shortcomings and problems. I wonder if anything has changed in the past fifteen years.
