Dear Editor,
I received a letter from the Guyana Post Office on Saturday last, telling me to go to the post office to retrieve the package my sister sent to me.
I arrived at the post office on Monday at 10 am where I lodged the letter that was posted to me. I took a seat noting my surroundings, wondering if it had ever had a facelift done to the walls and its trimmings. I dived into my book which I had brought along, for a good 15 minutes, then I heard my name called.
An attendant stood behind my box on a table that looked as if it was made with a collage of wood chips and saw dust, along with scotch tape.
I stood there, and she disappeared from sight without a word for about 5 to 10 minutes. I was saying to myself that if she was not ready for me, why call me and have me standing there. I later proceeded to ask another worker, who was passing by on the outside, if anyone was working on the inside, because in all of the cubicles: delivery, cashier, and the part that I was there was no one; it was simply a ghost town. He noticed the same attendant who left me stranded and called her up to the window to inform her that it is courtesy to inform the customers what the next step is, instead of having them there waiting and becoming irritable. She shook her head in acknowledgement and said that she was waiting for the customs officer to proceed and closed the window.
By this time, all the seats were occupied. The other persons wanted to know what the hold-up was, so I relayed what I had just learnt. Other persons came to hand in their letters to receive their parcels. The customs officer came out and opened my parcel along with 2 others. One man said he had been waiting for over an hour.
My box contained 2 gents shirts, 4 ladies tops, 4 panties, about a 4 oz size container of makeup and 2 pairs of ladies sandals. This parcel weighed 2.249 kg and had postal charges of BDS $30.50. I received the original letter with a change of $2068 written on it. I was horrified because a box weighing 9.2 Kg was posted through the GPO two weeks ago to that same sister in Barbados, with a postal charge of $4900, and upon receiving the box, which contained shoes, bags, purses, vests, bakeware, just to name a few, she paid BDS$1.50. Can someone please tell me why the fees are so exorbitant in Guyana?
There were other complaining customers there; for instance, a lady who purchased a camera online for US$30-$35, she was made to pay in excess of $3000. Another young man who ordered a coat online costing US$2 was made to pay $1500. Why are the charges so high?
I had spent over half hour waiting to return home with my box. Why is there only one staff member who is the cashier as well as the person who goes to look for your parcel? Writing the same information lots of times on different books, makes the process excessively long. Are there any other reasons why the process is so protracted?
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)