Basseterre, St. Kitts (March 1, 2004): Postmaster Mr. Wendell Wattley says he expects door-to-door mail delivery to improve impressively following the introduction of the household mailboxes operation.
The objective is to have all the homes in postman delivery districts in St. Kitts and Nevis outfitted with mail receptacle boxes.
Mr. Wattley said the system would improve delivery time in general but drastically for cases in which mail delivery has been challenging because of dogs, absence of homeowners, locked gates and other such mail delivery obstacles.
Mr. Wattley added that the boxes will be placed on the fences of the homes in locations that would be easily accessible to postmen. He said the homeowners would be the sole bearers of keys and that post men would insert the letters through a small slit and can only be retrieved by the key bearer.
The postmaster general revealed that while the boxes would come at an affordable one-time fee, the first few boxes can be won on a call in programme which would familiarize the public further about the door-to-door mail delivery system.
The project will be carried out on a first come first served basis rather than a district by district basis.
Mr Wattley added that the Post Office hopes to take a proactive approach to servicing the increased housing developments in the country. He explained that the mailbox system was one way of addressing the mail delivery needs of those areas.
He said the Post Office plans to take an active role in collaboration with the Planning Unit and Housing Department to ensure that when homes are built the mail delivery system is well thought out prior to construction.
