Monday, 17 June 2013

Bullock cart express: 10 days for letter from Singapore


Something to ponder about. Are we living in the 21st Century or the 20th Century? I just received this letter from Singapore which had been sent by registered post. It was postmarked 7 Jun 2013 in Singapore but the postman only came to deliver it today, 10 days later. Some more, it was by special delivery because I was asked to sign for it.

It makes me wonder why the letter had taken so long to cross the causeway. It is not like Malaysia and Singapore are worlds apart. In fact we are separated by only a narrow sliver of water and are extensively connected by air, road and rail. In the case of this letter, it was very clear that though the "Air Mail" sticker was affixed, "bullock cart express" was the preferred mode of transportation.

Just dunno who has to take responsibility for this absurdly long delivery period: the Post Office in Singapore or the Pos Malaysia here? No other date stamp apart from the Singapore mark. But on the reverse side of the envelope was a sticker marked "RS16 110 635 1MY". A bit of an irony, actually, because of the "1MY" at the end of this string of identification number.




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