Complaints about Missing Mail and Postal Quality of Service

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Communications and Information (a) in the past 36 months, how many complaints have been received on misuse of failed postal delivery notices when recipients are home; and (b) whether IMDA investigates these complaints to ensure compliance of the Postal Quality of Service framework.

Mr Speaker, as the designated public postal licensee, SingPost is responsible for delivering letters on time, and accurately. SingPost has to meet the Postal Quality of Service (QoS) standards set by the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) for letter delivery. SingPost also provides other services, such as advertisement mail and parcel delivery, that are not subject to IMDA's Postal QoS standards. The recent lapses by SingPost involve services covered by the Postal QoS standards, and those that are not.

For letter delivery, the QoS standards are: to deliver 99% of local basic letters destined for the Central Business District (CBD), and 98% for those destined for non-CBD areas, by the next working day; and 100% for all letters by the second working day. IMDA imposed a financial penalty of $100,000 on SingPost last week for failing to meet the QoS standards in 2017. SingPost has accepted IMDA's decision and committed to improve its service delivery standards, including its QoS performance. IMDA is reviewing SingPost's performance for letter delivery in 2018.

In 2018, SingPost received 91 complaints about misdelivered and lost mail. SingPost has investigated each complaint and has apologised to the complainant whenever there was a confirmed service lapse, and redelivered mail that was found. IMDA has also reviewed its QoS standards for letter delivery and has decided to maintain them.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah also asked about complaints relating to consumers receiving failed delivery notices even when there was someone at home. These pertain to the delivery of parcels and registered articles. Eight such complaints were submitted directly to IMDA in 2018, and seven in 2017. SingPost is unable to provide the specific number of complaints it receives on failed delivery notices. Nonetheless, we believe that there are likely to be more incidents which were not formally reported.

IMDA will pay attention to this area as well. It is now considering regulatory standards for the delivery of parcels and registered articles.

SingPost's Board and management agree with my Ministry and IMDA that a thorough review of its operations and manpower has to be made even as it takes immediate steps to remedy the service lapses. They have reaffirmed SingPost’s commitment to prioritise improvements to service delivery standards and the welfare of its workforce. SingPost has already made a start by announcing measures, such as extending parcel delivery to Saturdays, cutting back on advertisement mail delivery and improving staff remuneration.

Mr Speaker, please allow me to make brief remarks on the issues of operations and manpower. SingPost has pointed out that the popularity of e-commerce has significantly increased the volume of parcels. As a result, it has to deliver 38,000 items daily which cannot fit into letter boxes and its postmen have to now conduct more deliveries for parcels. This works out to an average of 35 to 45 doorstep deliveries per postman per day in Singapore's urban landscape with many high-rise Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks and condominiums, in addition to delivering letters to letter boxes. My Ministry and IMDA are of the view that SingPost must make itself ready for this new operating environment.

Next, on manpower. The work of the postman is labour-intensive and has become more so over the years. My Ministry and IMDA are of the view that, even as SingPost remedies its service lapses, its postal workforce should be treated fairly and be well-equipped to perform their job. Where necessary, IMDA will provide support to SingPost in the training of postmen, delivery process re-engineering, deployment of technological solutions and infrastructure upgrades to optimise its delivery process.

It may take time before the gaps in SingPost's service delivery are fully addressed. The SingPost Board and management know there is hard work ahead and have told us that they are committed to work together with my Ministry and IMDA. Further regulatory action from IMDA can be expected, as it reviews SingPost’s letter delivery performance for 2018 and beyond, investigates infringements under the Postal Services Act and considers additional regulatory standards.

Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for her very comprehensive long reply. I have six supplementary questions. I filed a Parliamentary Question (PQ) in February 2017 here, on letters frequently delivered to the wrong addresses. Since then, the situation has gone from bad to worse. Residents are now not just complaining that letters are delivered to the wrong addresses, there are also many complaints that the letters they are expecting do not arrive, and the worst was towards end of last year. That is why I filed a question again.

My first question is: did SingPost foresee the seasonal peak and the surge of e-commerce and planned for them? Why has it become much worse at the end of last year? Are there shortages in manpower and, if there are, is there any study into the remuneration package and welfare for postmen and other ground service staff? Because I noted that SingPost made a profit of $42.2 million on operating activities. So, did they do a remuneration package study?

My second question is: there is only one postal service company in Singapore and it is doing essential service. How do we ensure that they are not complacent? Because this issue has been brought up in Parliament before. It is not getting better but getting worse. So, it shows that maybe they are complacent.

The third question is: they are found, according to the report last week, to have many lapses in 2017, and falling short can result in a fine of up to $50,000 a month for each indicator. My question is: why were they only fined $100,000. Is fine alone sufficient deterrence?

Earlier, the Senior Minister of State mentioned about regulatory requirement and I have also read on several occasions that the Ministry had implied or mentioned the revoking of licence. I would like to ask under what circumstances will the licence be revoked. Are there any plans to issue more than one licence so that there is competition? Perhaps, they cannot cope. So, we may want to look into having more than one postal services provider in Singapore.

Last but not least, and this is the most important question: what action will be taken in general, and at Yishun Town in particular, in order to bring back the trust and confidence of the people?

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah mentioned six supplementary questions; I counted five. But if I leave out any, she is welcomed to ask again.

I will take her last question first, which is, what actions for the residents of Yishun. Indeed, amongst the complaints that SingPost received and the ones that have been sent to IMDA last year, IMDA has noted that some of these complaints pertain to the Yishun area. It has discussed with SingPost and SingPost has redeployed two experienced postmen to cover the Yishun beats as of November 2018. We hope that this would address at least some of the concerns, but IMDA will be monitoring this very closely.

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah has also asked about the situation in Yishun as of the end of last year as her first question. So, I think we have addressed that.

She has also asked whether SingPost had planned for the seasonal peaks and what has it been doing to cope with the operating environment. Mr Speaker, as I have mentioned earlier, we believe that the operating environment, however it changes, that is the responsibility of SingPost to plan for it. SingPost has talked about seasonal peaks and about the changing proportion of parcels to letters. We are of the view that this is something which it, as the service provider and the operator, should plan for and ensure that its workforce is properly remunerated, properly trained and equipped to do this job.

As for the status of SingPost as the postal service provider, I believe the next two questions that Er Dr Lee had mentioned pertain to this. Let me explain, Mr Speaker. Under our current framework, we have one public postal licensee, that is, SingPost. But it is not the only ones who are licensed to deliver basic letters. There are four in total. As the public postal licensee, what they need to do is, in addition to delivering letters, they have to maintain a set of universal service obligations (USOs). These include, for instance, the maintenance of posting boxes, the issuance of stamps and there is an obligation to deliver basic letters from and to anyone within Singapore. That is what we call the USOs. Those are the obligations tied to being the public postal licensee. This does not mean they have a monopoly on the delivery of basic letter services. This segment of the market has also been opened up. As explained, there are now four in total. As for parcel delivery, this is also a very open and competitive segment. We have many companies that are doing parcel and door-to-door delivery.

Er Dr Lee has asked about the quantum of the fine and whether that is considered sufficient. First, allow me to explain that under the QoS framework, IMDA does have discretion to decide how much financial penalty to levy for each count of failing the QoS. I have described earlier in the main reply there are several types of QoS that the public postal licensee has to abide by. In terms of determining the actual quantum per count, IMDA would take into account factors, such as whether there are aggravating factors, for instance, has there been repeated failures, and also, mitigating factors, for instance, whether or not the delay time is longer or shorter.

We completely agree with Er Dr Lee that relying on fines is not sufficient. As I have mentioned, regulatory action is ongoing. More can be expected from IMDA in the coming months. But very importantly, other measures also need to be taken. We are glad to see that SingPost has owned the issue and has announced steps in the right direction, for instance, by extending delivery hours, by relooking at remuneration for its workforce and so forth. At the same time, the use of technology must continue. This is something that IMDA has been in constant discussion with SingPost on, and, in fact, in previous years, have also required SingPost to take on technological upgrade so that its postal workforce can do its job better.

The next question that Er Dr Lee has asked touches on who gets to deliver basic letters. So, I have covered that when I explained the overall framework.

My residents have also told me that they often do not receive letters even from my constituency office. So, I am also worried. With the increased popularity of emails, we often think that snail mail will lose its popularity. But when we look at the annual financial report of SingPost, in the last financial year, 90% of SingPost's profit comes from postal service. In other words, postal service is the cash cow for SingPost. So, I would like to ask the Senior Minister of State, is it the case where SingPost is under-investing in postal services while they try to take some money to diversify their business?

I believe that Mr Ang Wei Neng's question is also something that should be asked of SingPost by its shareholders. After all, it is a listed company. I understand that these are also the issues that the shareholders should hold SingPost to account for. In terms of under-investing, I shall not comment on this specific issue. However, we can also take cognisance of the steps that SingPost has talked about, in terms of paying more attention to the postal workforce, in ensuring that the operations are right, in extending the delivery hours. So, those steps that they have mentioned are indicative of what SingPost's own diagnosis of the problem is. However, IMDA will not stop here. We will continue to work very closely with SingPost. We will also continue to monitor and regulate.

I thank the Senior Minister of State for the comprehensive answer. While we are still waiting for technological solutions, such as the use of drones to deliver mail, I wonder if the Ministry could consider or help to facilitate alternate delivery agents and systems for now. In the Central Community Development Council (CDC), we tried a drop-mail system where we employed senior citizens who are still healthy to drop mail in their localities. We found the outcomes to be quite good in accuracy and the speed was very fast, maybe better than SingPost. The CDC does not have the ability to scale it, but I believe there is a good potential there to create reliable delivery systems, employing seniors and also graduands of Special Education schools and others who may not be able to have other forms of jobs.

I wonder if the Ministry and other related agencies would be interested in helping us organise this so that we can scale this kind of system and create interim jobs that might be meaningful, and also provide opportunities for seniors and others to build better health and earn some pocket money.

I thank Ms Denise Phua. I shall ask IMDA to work closely with her CDC to understand this pilot scheme that she has started and to see how this can improve postal services. In terms of other solutions that the Member had asked, I would also like to take this opportunity to say that locker trials have started in two locations in Bukit Panjang and in Punggol under the Locker Alliance. This is a trial that SingPost is also a part of, to see whether there can be better solutions for the last-mile delivery of parcels which may be too large to fit into letter boxes.

I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for a very comprehensive reply and the assurances. I just have a question, and this pertains to the timeline. I understand that some time may be needed for SingPost to address the gaps and as the Ministry of Communications and Information considers additional regulation, may I know if there is a timeline for both these aspects? In the meantime, what else might we be able to expect to ensure that the letter delivery performance will still be upheld?

I thank Ms Tin. We make no assumptions as to how long this journey is going to take. But I can share at this moment that IMDA aims to release its decision with regard to SingPost's 2018 letter delivery by the middle of this year.

I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for informing the House that two experienced postmen have been put in to serve the residents of Yishun Town. During my recent visit to SingPost's Woodlands distribution centre, I came to understand that, actually, there is a shortage of postmen serving in Yishun Town. There are supposed to be 40-over postmen, but they only have 30-plus. I would like to ask when will the number of postmen be increased. Otherwise, they are overstressing the current working postmen. That is why, sometimes, you will find that there are other consequences. That is one question.

For the second question, just now, the Senior Minister of State mentioned about thorough review with SingPost. I would like to know is there any timeline given because we do not want them to just overstress the postmen and the ground service staff. I think they are overstressed; they work very hard.

I think the Senior Minister of State did not answer one of my questions. I asked under what circumstances would the licence be revoked.

First, Er Dr Lee has asked about staffing issues. I think that by announcing its plans to hire more postmen, SingPost is acknowledging that there are vacancies and I believe it is not only restricted to the Woodlands distribution centre. We believe that with SingPost's intention to also review remuneration for the staff, we hope that these vacancies will be easier to fill than they currently are now.

In terms of the concern on manpower, indeed, we share Er Dr Lee's concerns about the importance of maintaining the well-being of the postal workforce. This is the reason why it is not just about tightening requirements and levying the penalties, but also monitoring very closely to ensure that, first of all, the workforce is adequately trained and prepared for the job that they have to do. This is certainly a priority for my Ministry and also for IMDA.

In terms of the circumstances under which the licence for being the public postal licensee will be revoked, first of all, I want to state that we do need an operator to maintain the universal service obligations. As I have mentioned, it is not just about delivery of the letters. It is about maintaining the posting boxes, it is about issuance of stamps, it is also about having somebody who undertakes to deliver and collect letters from anywhere in Singapore. So, this has to be a given. What we currently have is a set of QoS standards to monitor the delivery of letters. But as I have mentioned, SingPost is not immune to competition here. IMDA will be monitoring this very carefully. I do not think at this moment that the lapses in terms of the QoS standards are such that it warrants removing of the licence. However, we are very conscious of the pain points that consumers have reported, including pain points concerning services that are not covered by the QoS, and this is the reason why IMDA is now also considering additional regulatory standards.