By Dennie Quill, ContributorI FEEL compelled to comment further on the postal issue following last week's admission by Science and Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell that the nation's post offices were chalking up annual losses in the region of $300 million.
To reiterate what I said in my earlier column, someone is eating lavishly from the postal services' breakfast table, because as a legal monopoly for the delivery of letters, the post office remains mired in debt while scores of persons are making a livelihood by doing the job the post office was meant to do.
The ever-optimistic Mr. Paulwell has put the Postal Corporation board on notice - break even by 2005 and return to profitability by 2006. One thing for sure, Mr. Paulwell's expected rate increase is not going to achieve these profitability targets. History tells us that. Postal rates were increased by 50% in 2001 and this did not produce spectacular financial results for the Postal Corporation. Postmaster-General Blossom O'Meally-Nelson sounded much more realistic. She was quoted as saying that it is going to be challenging.
Indeed, I daresay as electronic mail, faxes, and couriers continue to bewilder the postal colossal, the response cannot be to raise postal rates. Has Mr. Paulwell considered what will be the impact of new rates? We applaud the administration for the small steps taken towards modernisation with the building of state-of-the-art facilities at Liguanea and the introduction of technology-based financial services. And we also note the building of alliances with private sector firms such as Paymaster. It is the way to go.
INSTRUCTIVE LANGUAGE
To be fair, the woes that beset the Jamaican postal service are not unique to our country. A presidential commission was established in the US in 2002 to study the postal system after it was determined that they needed to introduce substantial changes if the system were to remain viable. The language used by the commission is instructive. This is what they said in their July 2003 report: "The postal system is a 30-year-old jalopy sputtering down the road to ruin, spewing toxic gases and leaving vital fluids on the pavement." The commission came up with a mailbag of recommendations such as providing more postal services in non-Post Office locations, reducing the bloated workforce and ensuring labour efficiency, slicing the monopoly on first-class mail and having greater oversight of the operations.
Our Postmaster-General is not amenable to the idea of slashing her workforce of more than 2,000 and she has stated that publicly, so that recommendation would not be readily adopted in Jamaica. But the idea of opening retail outlets in shopping malls and such commercial hubs should be considered. Having said all of the above, one has to recognise that in the Jamaican scenario the greatest battle the post office has on its hand is to fight off the reputation of poor customer service and dishonest and inefficient workers, which has dogged the operations for years. Here's the reaction to my earlier column from a Jamaican living overseas: "I read with interest your article on the postal service in Jamaica. While there is a lot of sense in your article, I have lost a few hundred dollars using that system and therefore certainly do not blame anyone for not using it. It does not matter how modern the system may become, if people are not honest it still will not work."
AN IMAGE PROBLEM
So there is an image problem to be fixed. Letters to the editor bear this out. There has to be a way to rebrand the postal service as a reliable service because that is the only way to recapture market share in the mail delivery business and remittance service. How then will the post office be returned to profitability in 2006? One suspects that any additional money raised from increased postal rates will be used for day-to-day operations and debt obligations. What the postal service needs is a huge infusion of capital. I say privatisation is the only way forward. Now, I don't mean the JOS-type of investment - for that is a sure path to ruin. I mean well-heeled corporations with deep pockets and the savvy to properly manage a business and turn fortunes around.
Yes, Mr Paulwell, many industrial countries have gone this route. If you are losing $300 million a year what does it matter if you give up the operations? In effect that is $300 million saved by the taxpayers and God knows we need a break.
You may want to consider giving a 20-year licence and setting specific efficiency targets to ensure that the service is not reduced to unprofitable rural areas. In today's parlance such an idea is called "thinking outside of the box" and this is where development and innovation take place. Our learned economists should be able to tell us what is the cost to the Jamaican economy of an efficient postal system. It may be worth much more than we ever conceived. Then maybe Mr. Paulwell will listen and act.
Dennie Quill is a veteran journalist who may be reached at denniequill@hotmail.com
