Of the 9,000 domestic and international letters trafficked every week through the General Post Office (GPO), Thimphu, almost 50 letters go into ‘dead’ letterbox, according to the Bhutan Post officials.
“Those are undelivered or unclaimed letters ,� said the deputy chief postmaster, Dorji Phuntsho. Dorji Phuntsho said that letters addressed to a nonexistent location, a deceased or a person who worked in a particular office or stayed in a particular place, but was either transferred or had shifted from the place before it could be delivered and no forwarding address to redirect it becomes dead letters. “Letters without stamps also fall into the category,� he said.
“More international letters become dead letters in comparison to the domestic letters,� he said. “That’s because returning to the originator becomes difficult because of the air charges.�
He also said that personal letters, with few exceptions to official letters become dead letters.
The postal assistance of GPO, San Bahadur Gurung, said that GPO has ‘unpaid letter’ and ‘insufficient address’ sorting box to keep the letters without stamps and insufficient addresses.
He said that the GPO keeps the unpaid and insufficient addressed letters for about two weeks. If no one comes to claim the letter, GPO redirects the letters after two weeks to the particular center from which the letter was sent by looking at the date stamp. “Those letters, if unable to return to the originator, is destroyed after six months,� he said.
Meanwhile, Kunzang, 36, a private painter in Thimphu, said that it is difficult to communicate through letters.
“Though cheaper and wiser to communicate through letters, it is disheartening when we don’t receive our letters,� he said.
Like Kunzang, many residents in Thimphu, who does menial jobs and petty businesses, complained of not receiving their letters that their relatives from rural areas claimed to have sent.
Dorji Phuntsho said that for domestic letters rapid increase in number of houses gave rise to failure of delivery besides lack of proper postal addresses.
“With houses coming up everywhere in Thimphu, residential areas are too difficult to be placed,� he said.
Renting out of mailboxes is the only option, according to Dorji Phuntsho. “This system also fails as people don’t turn up to renew it even after repeated reminders,� he said.
“It’s always safe to register a letter, as the letter will definitely return to the sender by looking at the sender’s address� he added.
According to him, the oldest dead letter as of now is two months old. “We do our best to make all deliveries andredeliveries possible despite the difficulties,� Dorji Phuntsho said. Source: Kuenselonline
