Sparkling lights around and crackers raining…. two days left for - TopicsExpress

Sparkling lights around and crackers raining…. two days left for the festival of lights. Our bags were packed for our hometown, joy and excitement all around. Last day of work before a much sought break with family and friends. At 11 a.m. I got a call from a team member that the parcel which we were waiting to receive from one of the suppliers has arrived. I was happy and relieved that it arrived before we left but there was a catch to it. The parcel came through our National Speed Post and the postman said that he cannot deliver. He had called up the team member as her number was on the parcel, to tell her this. She was surprised, rather shocked and called me to give his number and told me the entire story. I called up the postman and informed that he is to deliver the package at my address and enquired why he couldn’t deliver it. His response was simple and crisp - he could not deliver the packet as it was too big. I said it has just 10 sarees and doesnt weigh much (I had no idea about the dimensions of the parcel then). Many questions raced my mind: - if it could come all the way from Bangalore to our city, then why couldn’t it be delivered to our home? - Why would the post office accept a package if it was too big to be delivered? - What if it doesnt get delivered? - What do I do now? Sensing that the Postman was adamant that it cannot be delivered, I asked him if I could pick it up myself from the post office and the reply was affirmative - yes, you could, it will be available at the Post office till 5:00 p.m.. I was in a fix. There was no way I could make it to the Post office by 5:00 p.m. as I had other planned work for the day. The only thing left to do was to plead and request for a service which we had already paid for. I did the same and was relieved when he relented and asked me to call him in an hour’s time. I called him after an hour, the call went unanswered. Frantically I called him again and again till he picked. By now, I was in a panic state and requested him to please deliver. All this while, our Postman was acting pricey as he understood we were in a hurry to pick up the package same day. He even said if we were unable to collect it the same day, he will have it sent back to the place of origin. He gave me all excuses from the packet being too big to he not being able to carry it on his bike and I was almost on the verge of pleading with him to deliver. All this time, I had so many ideas running in my head: - Should I complain against him? - Where should I register my complaint? - Is there an option to file complaint online? - And most importantly….is it worth it? I told him that these packets will now come regularly and I was told aap apna arrangement kar lena. What did he mean by this... did it mean…he will never deliver or dont use this service again ? The feeling of helplessness was gripping me and then something I said worked like magic “Aap yeh packet deliver kar do, mein 1- 2 din mein aapse aakar milta hoon” (Please deliver this packet, I will come and meet you in a day or two).... “jo kahoge manage kar lenge” (we will manage as you say). I dont know what he understood but the packet was at our place in the next half an hour. I don’t suppose our parcel shrunk in size.... but the magic words were mein 1 - 2 din mein aap se aakar milta hoon. I never went to meet him – not sure if this has caused us more harm than good but we now avoid using Speed post service and bank upon private courier services only. We know this is not the right approach, if this should have been reported, whether we are being escapists but the truth is that ‘We are now scared to using the National Postal Service’. Every time one of our suppliers / weavers asks about sending through Speed Post, we decline. We would like you to share this post and hope that the attitude improves and steps are taken so that the National Postal Service improves.