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The great mailbox tragedy [Saudi Gazette, The]
[October 25, 2014]

The great mailbox tragedy [Saudi Gazette, The]


(Saudi Gazette, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)   Saudi Gazette report   IN the 1970s and 80s, the Ministry of Post, Telegraphs and Telephones (MOPTT) was in charge of telecommunication services in the country. In May of 1998, the Kingdom's telecommunications services were privatized which gave birth to Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC). As a result, postal services in the Kingdom became an independent institution, which marked an important turning point.



The move prompted speculation that postal services would be drastically improved. Saudi Post eventually embarked on an ambitious mission to install millions of residential mailboxes in an effort to streamline the country's postal service.

Nearly a decade after residential mailboxes were installed, Al-Bilad daily looks at the shortcomings of one of Saudi Post's most ambitious projects to date.


Known as "Wasel", the service has allowed millions of people to receive and send mail from home instead of going to the post office. The basic service is free and additional services can be purchased for a monthly fee. Problems began to arise with the service even before it began as vandals smashed the mailboxes, rendering them useless in many neighborhoods. Mailboxes that were installed outside local businesses, mosques and hospitals were also targeted by vandals and the Saudi Post failed to replace them or address the problem.

Citizen Mansour Al-Malki said the smashing of mailboxes was regrettable and the result of ignorance on the part of the perpetrators.

"Such acts are carried out by a truly backward category of people that do not understand or appreciate that public property is the nation's collective property. Jeddah is supposed to be a city of world standards and more civilized than the other cities but what happened to the Wasel postal service proves the opposite. This is the reality, even if bitter," he said.

"There are no excuses for these deliberate acts. In other countries, you can find mailboxes that remain unlocked and some of them were made of wood over 50 years ago! Nobody tampers with them!" he added.

Humaid Al-Jad'ani attributed a lack of awareness to the rampant vandalism of public property but also faulted Saudi Post for making what he termed "flimsy mailboxes." "Mailboxes are among the many things that have been damaged or destroyed. But the material from which the mailboxes are manufactured is weak and can easily be damaged. The company that fitted the mailboxes was keen to complete the project and receive their money as soon as possible.

  There was no oversight," he said while adding the Saudi media failed to create awareness among citizens and expatriates on the importance of the mailboxes.

(c) 2014 The Saudi Gazette. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).

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