Committed to providing quality services
I refer to the letter from your reader, N. L. Kerr, headlined, 'Competition from private sector long overdue', which appeared in the South China Morning Post, on July 30.
Hongkong Post is committed to providing quality services to our customers.
To enable us to achieve this goal, we need to know what our customers think of us first.
The public perception survey was the first structured survey on public opinions which was aimed at finding out how customers viewed our services. The survey also aimed to identify areas which require further improvement.
This, along with other information, serves as the basis for future planning of our services. We value the feedback collected from members of the public and we are in no way complacent about our services.
Waiting time, customer-friendliness, retail network, availability of philatelic products and the general appearance at some of our old post offices, are among the key areas which have been identified for further improvement.
Since our conversion into trading fund status in August 1995, we have already implemented a number of new initiatives, including extension of parcel delivery service to cover Central District and the entire New Territories, resumption of posting box collection on Sundays and holidays, installation of posting box facilities at MTR stations, acceptance of credit cards at 49 post offices, introduction of the recorded delivery service to the public, rolling out hybrid mail service, improvement in advance order schemes for philatelic products, selling new stamps on Sundays or public holidays etc.
We are conscientiously sharing our profits and savings in costs with the public.
For example, a $210 million package, including a local postage rate freeze, bulk mail discounts and new weight steps, was introduced in early July.
In addition, a $264 million budget has been put aside for the renovation and reprovisioning of our post offices in phases over five years. We expect the first reprovisioned post office located at Tze Wan Shan will be completed within this year. Moreover, we are planning a department-wide training programme, which will start in early 1998 and last for about two years, on customer service for all front-line, supervisory and management staff.
Details of our next '100 Projects for Better Services' for 1997-98 will be announced in November and we will continue to monitor the public's feedback for further improvement of our services.
AUBREY AU for Postmaster-General
