Is Royal Mail doing its job? And what is the price the BVI is paying?

by Oscar Ramjeet

 Unlike other Caricom countries like, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, the British Virgin Islands is not a territory where people demonstrate or engage in public protests when there is dissatisfaction, yet some people, no doubt because of the gross inconvenience, show their annoyance of the service they receive from the postal department.

During the past three weeks there have been a series of letters to the editors and there have been articles and commentaries in this newspaper about the inordinate delay of mails especially to and from Europe. The adverse publicity against the local General Post Office and the Royal Mail in London attracted the attention of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC Caribbean Report) as well as a British Television producer who is working on a documentary focusing on the Royal Mail problems.

However, some people seem to feel that "it is a storm in a teacup" and the issue is blown out of proportion. However persons affected by the poor postal service are furious because they have lost large sums of moneys and some of the correspondents overseas have ceased doing business with at least two BVI-based businesspersons.

A well known offshore finance company that has a BVI branch since the 1970s allegedly lost a million dollars because a registered mail was delayed and arrived after a legal business deadline, and a USA stamp collector lost 10,000 pounds sterling.

The Pennsylvania collector who since the 1980s comes to the BVI to spend winter and spring sent a virtually unique BVI stamp to the Royal Philatelic Society in London for expertisation.

It passed the test, and a certificate was issued that the only similar item in existence is in the Royal Collection. Unfortunately the envelope with the certificate. which was sent by registered mail to the USA, was returned to the Royal Philatelic Society from the Royal Mail without the Certificate and the stamp. The envelope was returned in a plastic bag marked “Item Found Damaged”. The story was reported in detail by The Island Sun, Linn’s Stamp News, and the BVI Standpoint in August 2002.

“This is an extremely disappointing loss and the owner is very upset that the item has gone. Our business is very dependent on a reliable postal service, as the item was International Recorded,” Christine Britcher-Viviyan, Secretary of the Expert Committee of the Royal Philatelic Society wrote in her letter to the Royal Mail Customer Service in London. She said that “should this stamp come on the market it will be easily recognised.”

There has also been complaint from an English Stamp Company, De Montfort which posted a 1700s BVI cover to a BVI collector since December last year and was delayed in the United Kingdom for more than two months without an explanation.

Although the authorities are trying to "play down" the problem, the BVI government should try to have a closer look at the situation since local mails are also being delayed. Astrid Wenzke, a German who has been living in the BVI for decades, and who has been playing an important role in the community's social, educational and economic development complained that she received a letter from her Insurance Company 24 days after it was mailed to her. As a result of the long delay, the deadline was passed by 9 days. She wondered why it took the Post Office 24 days to deliver a mail to her mail box which is only 30 feet away from the Post Office counter.

The well known woman also complained that mails from overseas including one from the former Chief Minister of Montserrat, David Brandt, ended up in her Post Office Box (207) which is the same Post Box number as Mr. Brandt, but the difference is one is Montserrat number and hers is a BVI listing. She added that mails from other nearby boxes are dumped in hers. Her major complaint however is the delay in receiving overseas packets. She said that she has been waiting for 6 months for packets from the USA and one from her mom in Germany.

Mail posted in European countries pass through the United Kingdom and is handled by the Royal Mail, a British national postal service in the United Kingdom. The Royal Mail Group is a public limited company, wholly owned by the British Government with a staff of 212,000, which is almost ten times the entire population of the BVI.

Since the BVI is a British Overseas Dependant Territory, the Post Office in the territory operates under the rules and regulations set out in the Royal Mail Guide. It is stated in the receipt for registered mail that "where a registration fee has been paid on a letter addressed to a place within the United Kingdom, compensation for loss or damage in the post, the fault of the Post Office or its agents, is payable if the conditions of posting as required by the relevant Post Office Schemes have been complied with" It is hoped that the numerous persons who have been affected would be compensated..