Madam, – An Post has introduced a service called MailMinder. The brochure advertising this service advises us: “You’re on holidays for just a week. Your post is left unattended. It builds up and gradually it turns into a welcome mat for burglars.”
For over 30 years, if I was going to be away from home I called at my local post office and requested that they hold my post until my return. When I tried to do this recently, I was told this practice was now banned and if I wished to use the MailMinder service I had to complete a form and post it to Dublin, giving at least five days’ notice before my postal delivery could be suspended. The fee for this “service” is at least €30.
If I decide on Saturday to go away for a week beginning on Sunday my form will not reach Dublin until Tuesday; and, given the five-day notice rule, my post cannot be held until after my return date.
If I go away at short notice for two weeks my post will have built up for over a week before An Post suspends delivery.
I wrote to the redirection centre at An Post, highlighting this problem and asking how it could be overcome. I received neither acknowledgement nor reply. I then phoned the centre to ask for advice and was told that nothing can be done – that “for legal reasons” I could not simply ask my local post office to hold my post.
I wonder what legal obstacles are overcome by sending a form to Dublin that could not be dealt with by handing the same form (and a fee) into my local office, thus ensuring that my postal delivery could be suspended immediately.
An Post has changed a system that worked to one that doesn’t. It is clear that it is more interested in raising money through MailMinder than in providing a service. – Yours, etc,