Going Postal

DISCLAIMER: Please do not let the following story deter you from mailing items to Singapore. We appreciate all the goodies sent our way and despite the wacky ways we receive the packages, so far everything has arrived…eventually!

Everyone knows that dealing with the US Postal Service is generally not pleasant business but you can feel better knowing you’re not alone. The postal systems in other countries can be equally irritating.

We were expecting a box to arrive from Dallas because we left a few important items behind by accident when flying back to Singapore. Brian forgot his electric shaver recharging cord and Emily hid her Woody and Bullseye toys so well under her bed that we completely forgot them. So, my sister-in-law Nikki was kind enough to gather those items for us. She mailed them via US Priority International Mail, which was great because we had a tracking number and could follow the box's progress.

Well, the trouble started when I checked the tracking information online and saw that someone had attempted delivery 2 days earlier. Normally I would receive a note in our mail box downstairs when that happened and I could pick it up at the Sing Post branch near our condo. This time, there was no documentation left behind so in my mind, our package was now MIA. I knew that after a certain number of days, an uncollected package would be returned to the US and I worried the upcoming holiday weekend was going to shorten my window of opportunity to collect the box.

The next morning I dropped by the SingPost office, told them about the attempted delivery and inquired about the location of the package. Not surprisingly, they had no clue where it was. I didn’t like the odds of tracking a foreign package on the island and expressed my concern. The employee quickly passed me off to her manager. He confirmed the package was not at his branch and gave me a phone number to call, describing it as the central distribution center for parcels. He assured me someone there would know the whereabouts of the box.

Wisely I called the phone number as soon as I exited the post office and after 5 minutes of calls that went unanswered, I returned to the office and asked him to check the phone number. His response: “They are very busy at that office so they just don’t answer the phone.” This is the point where Brian has recommended I say, “Thank you. You have a beautiful country” and leave. Instead, I said something not quite as nice before exiting. I was so frustrated with yet another example of the awful customer service here. And then I had to laugh when I realized that Singapore is wise to outlaw firearms because someone (likely a foreigner) could see the beauty in a weapon after dealing with the locals each day.

After sending Brian a message, “Kiss your re-charger goodbye,” I finished my errands and when I arrived home, I found the package sitting on the kitchen table. Apparently the mysterious people who handle the US Priority packages had successfully delivered the box after all. If I had waited about 1 hour longer, I would have avoided the incident at the post office. But then I never would have learned about that helpful SingPost phone number, right?