Postal lethargy is stamped, delivered!

While the postal department plays it cool, people are busy mailing their letters with “reusable” stamps or happily mailing them with underpaid postage.

As much as 25 to 30 per cent of contest postcards received by The Indian Express either have uncancelled stamps or those of inadequate denomination. Sometimes the postcard bears the cancellation mark right next to the stamp but not on it, or sometimes only on one stamp leaving the other stamp free.

Though reusing stamps is a penal offence, most of the time this goes undetected. Says a lady who does not wish to be named and who regularly reuses such stamps, “Why should we let go a stamp that has not been cancelled? It would be foolish to waste it.”

Letters bearing inadequate postage gets delivered by the postman without raising an eyebrow. Actually, a penalty postage should be collected from the addressee, or if he refuses to accept the mail, from the sender. Probably postmen find this too much of a hassle for a small amount.

Competition postcards are now to be mailed on postcards with three rupee stamps. Yet, a sizeable number of postcards received are still from the old lot, with stamp value of barely 25 paise.

Why is the postal department so casual about an issue by which they stand to lose? Mildred Iawphniaw, director Postal Services, Pune, when contacted admitted that “a few articles do pass without defacement of stamps. This is a human error, which is unavoidable, but if one organisation alone receives 25 to 30 per cent of such postal stationery, then this is a serious lapse on our part.”

The lapse occurs either at the booking office or at the delivery office. When a letter is posted, it is collected from the post-box and taken to that area’s local post office. There stamps are first cancelled and then sorted out according to their addresses. At the sorting stage they are checked for cancellation by the sorting postman after which the assistant postmaster does a random check. Then the mail goes to the Railway Mail Office that distributes these letters to the repective post offices from where they are to be delivered to the addressee. Before the articles actually leave the delivery office, they are supposed to be checked again to ensure that adequate postage has been paid by the sender and that the stamps are properly cancelled by the postal staff. Articles that are not correctly paid for are listed in a register and the penalty is marked on the letter. This is then collected from the receiver by the postman. Penalty levied is double the shortfall in postage. The general post office (GPO) inPune collects at least Rs 1,500 a day as tax on insufficient postage.

Explains Iawphniaw, “The main problem is that the man whose job is to cancell the postal stamps is semi-literate. He does this job mechanically, not bothering to check if the stamp is cancelled. Also he goes about his job so fast that there is a liklihood of him missing some stamps out. That is the reason why we have the assistant postmaster to do a random check. But from the looks of it even that is not being done properly.”

Even if stamps are not defaced at the post office there is a provision for the delivering postman to cancel the stamp simply with a pen. The system provides for three checks – the sorte, the assistant postmaster and the delivering postman, and yet the articles slip out underpaid or with “reusuable” stamps. Defaulters are sometimes caught. The usual excuse given by the defaulters, admits Iawphniaw, is that they are “reluctant to bang a cancellation marking on postal stamps bearing Mahatma Gandhi’s picture ,” he points out.

“But we are bound to deface every stamp. Such carelessness means a huge loss to our department. I will look into the matter and take appropriate action against those who have been irresponsible,” she adds.