LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Confusion reigns: Postpone new rates, Pos Malaysia Please support our work by buying a copy of our print publication, Aliran Monthly, from your nearest news-stand. Better still take out a subscription now. If you prefer to read our web-based edition, please support our work and make a donation.
Last Thursday (24 February) when we approached an official at a particular post office on the island for information regarding rates for air/sea mail, we were told that he had not yet received the rates. He explained that members of the public had dropped by seeking clarification that he was not able to provide. When he called KL for answers, he was asked to hold on. This was five days before the new rates were to come into force. At another post office, an official at the counter revealed that 400 members of the postal staff were given a briefing on 22 February at Kepala Batas. He admitted that those experts briefing the staff were not able to answer the questions raised neither were their clarifications satisfactory. On Saturday (26 February) we called on another post office only to learn that they had only received a photostat copy providing the various rates that very day. He said, "Kita semua keliru. Briefing pun tak faham. (We are all confused. Even the briefings we don't understand)." This was three days before the date of implementation. He told us that the machines had not been programmed for the new rates and that "people had gone to Fiji regarding the programming of the machines." Announcing the new rates and giving a brief information to the public two weeks before the date of enforcement is not acceptable. What is the justification for the rush? What is the rationale for hiking the rates? In that announcement on 15 February we were told that "the changes in the international mail rates were for Pos Malaysia to recover costs as a result of misalignment of its rates and that of other countries� The alignment was necessary to prevent Malaysia from becoming a dumping ground for re-mailing of foreign mails." The postal authorities should go after those involved in the scam. But instead genuine consumers who post their letters and materials overseas without abusing the services provided by Pos Malaysia are now forced to pay more as if we are part of this scam. . Why? Not many people are aware that as of 1 March there is no more first class and second class mail. All letters have to be sealed now. There will be no more "Printed Matter" as a category that offers a cheaper rate for Malaysians. Now we have to send those items as parcel post. We are told that the rate for parcel post weighing up to one kg remains the same at RM2.50. But we are not told that under "Printed Matter" we were charged RM0.80 for a similar weight. Now we are forced to pay more than 200 % for sending the same item as parcel post. Envelopes now have to be of a standard size as prescribed. They must be made of "non-glossy paper of white colour" to be considered as standard mail (30 sen postage for letters weighing up to 20gm). If the envelope is brown or bigger than prescribed, it would now come under the "non-standard" classification (50 sen postage). Any letter weighing more than 50 gm is now classified as "non-standard" as well and charged a higher rate of 75 sen instead of the previous rate of 50 sen - an increase of 50%. There are many business concerns, NGOs, unions and co-operatives that have made bulk purchases of brown envelopes because they are cheaper. They will now have to pay 50 sen postage (instead of the 30 sen for white envelope) if they use these brown envelopes to send out their letters - an increase of more than 66%. In all fairness, they should be given time to exhaust their stock before conforming to the white envelope requirement. Similarly a new problem is created when a 15mm zone of the envelope at the bottom has to be left blank. Pre-printed envelopes in many cases do not have the 15mm zone. Does it mean that these envelopes will be rejected or classified as non-standard - even though they may be white - and charged more? In the one-page Advertorial published in The Star on 25 February, it was stated "wrappers with open ends are not admissable." Aliran Monthly is sent out in pre-printed wrappers with open ends, something that we have been doing for more than two decades. We still have 40,000 such open-ended wrappers in stock, printed at a cost. What happens to these wrappers? Why should we have to incur this unnecessary loss? On Monday, 28 February (the eve of the implementation date), when we enquired at the counter of a post office whether we could continue to send Aliran Monthly in open-ended wrappers, a counter staff told us "seperti biasa tetapi harga baru (as usual but at the new rate)." When this Advertorial information disallowing open-ended wrappers was made known to him, he was perplexed. We were told by an official - and this was not publicised in the media - that bulk mailings of non-standard mail (requiring a minimum of 1,000 letters) would be given rebates of 9%. And if these items are posted before noon, another 1% rebate would be given bringing the total to 10%. In other words, if the postal charges came up to RM1,000, the actual charge imposed would be only RM900. But this concession is not extended to periodicals. Which means that although Aliran posts nearly 3,000 copies of Aliran Monthly, we won't get any rebate. Why? The new rates will hit Aliran badly. The postal charges have increased stupendously. Just to give you an idea how we are affected, the following information will throw plenty of light:
Because of these higher rates, we are forced to raise our prices, and this will affect us tremendously. NGOs, consumer bodies, unions, environmental groups and co-operatives deserve special consideration. All these bodies selflessly serve society. They are not driven by the greed of the business world and they shouldn't be hampered by these new rates. Pos Malaysia must surely have a human face! Aliran Executive Committee 2 March 2005
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