India Post
Inefficient service at the Ganapathy Post office branch in Coimbatore

Respected Sir,

I would like to bring to your attention the extreme inefficiency and irresponsible behaviour exhibited by employees at the Ganapathy Post office branch in Coimbatore. I called up the post office beforehand to confirm that all speed post parcels have to be submitted at the post office before 3:00 p.m. I reached the above mentioned postal branch at 2:00 p.m.and was directed to an unmanned counter. I approached 2 different postal office employees and was told that the person in charge of speed post collection had gone for lunch. I waited along with 5-8 people at the same counter while the remaining employees spent time chatting.

One lady was kind enough to weigh my package which weighed less that 50 gm and quoted a price of Rs.193/- as postal charge. She didnt accept payment saying " person in charge of speed post collection had gone for lunch". I waited until 2:35 p.m. along with other unfortunate customers. I finally left without posting my package and couriered my package for a mere Rs.35/-.

I can understand being asked to wait ten minutes because an official is busy. But I do not understand why the postal department insists on wasting the time of customers merely because the person who does the job is out for lunch. In view of the number of customers waiting, wouldnt it be reasonable to expect one of the other employees to take over? Or is such customer friendly service beneath the postal department? Do government jobs lend employees a sense of entitlement that leads them to believe that any behaviour is to be tolerated by the customer? There was no complaint/feedback box availabe which obviously shows the disinterest of the department in knowing a customer's suggestions or problems.

I found the below line in the Mission statement of India post.

"Total devotion to providing efficient and reliable services, which Customers consider to be value for money."

Considering the inefficiency I saw, I consider the service an absolute national waste and I believe that there is no way that the Vision of India Post will ever come true. Truly disappointing.

Regards,

Anupama Radhakrishnan