SINGAPORE — Singapore Post’s (SingPost's) new chief executive officer of postal services and Singapore was frank in readily admitting to the company’s shortcomings, which has seen it coming under fire from the public in recent months for a series of service lapses.

“Some of them are clearly service issues, and I’ll be the first to admit that those are things we should look into,” said Mr Vincent Phang, 45, during his first media interview on Friday (May 31) since taking on the job on April 1.

However, the postmaster is also determined to turn the ship around and chart a new course for the national postal licensee.

Mr Phang said he aims to ensure SingPost will be rolling out mid-to-longer term changes which he hopes will put the firm on track to winning back the confidence of the public.

The two-century-old postal service provider has been on the receiving end of social media flak for a host of reasons that include postal workers leaving mailbox doors open and leaving stacks of letters either unattended or completely discarded.

In February this year, the Infocomm Media Development Authority imposed a financial penalty of S$100,000 on SingPost for failing to meet the delivery standards of local basic letters and registered mail on nine occasions in 2017.

Mr Phang hopes that the new measures that will be put on trial in phases this year will help to address some of these issues.

SEGREGATING WORKFLOW

Presently, postmen are responsible for not just letterbox deliveries, but also door-to-door parcel deliveries, said Mr Phang.

As these postal workers make their rounds during regular office hours, it often results in situations where they attempt to deliver a parcel to the recipient when they may not be at home.

To increase the likelihood of successfully handing over the parcel, SingPost will put on a trial a new method of delivery in August.

Doorstep deliveries will be extended to the evening, when there is a higher chance of someone being at home. To ease the workload of postal workers, these deliveries will be handled by a separate team.

KNOW YOUR POSTMAN

Starting in July, residents of Bukit Timah and Yishun will be part of another trial that will see them receiving magnets from SingPost which will feature a Quick Response code.

Scanning the code will let them know who is serving their neighbourhood, and offer them a chance for engagement, said Mr Phang.

“The postman has always been key to the whole delivery system and part of the social fabric…and we would like to engage the community in a good way,” said Mr Phang.

Residents will be able to leave feedback on the postal worker — good and bad.

Agreeing that there might be individuals who may abuse this feedback system, he said that should not be a reason to stop SingPost from trying. He said he would also “look deeply” into any issues that arise, and will review any work processes if they warrant it.

“Having that kind of engagement with the customer is important to us. We will give it a go and see how it goes.”

REPLACING HDB LETTERBOX MASTERDOORS

Pending regulatory approval, SingPost hopes to commence replacing all 60,000 letterbox masterdoors across the island by September this year with slam-shut versions.

Mr Phang said this should help improve the security of letters by reducing human-errors which might see the masterdoors being left open unintentionally.

TRACKABLE LETTERBOX DELIVERY

Another service that is pending regulatory approval is the addition of a trackable letterbox delivery service.

If approved, SingPost hopes to trial a new paid service from October onwards that will allow customers to track mail items to letterboxes.

This service is meant to complement the current registered mail service it offers. The difference is that it does not require the signature of the recipient.

THREE MILLION ARTICLES A DAY

Since he took over from his predecessor Mr Woo Keng Leong two months ago, Mr Phang has walked the ground to get a feel for some of the challenges that are just “part and parcel” of the job. Mr Woo continues to serve in an advisory role at SingPost.

On average, Mr Phang said a team of around 1,000 postal workers deliver close to a staggering three million articles a day.

On why some of these never reach their intended recipients, he said: “There are 15,000 to 20,000 deliveries that are not successful for various reasons. While some of these are purely (on) SingPost, which we can address…The truth is, a vast majority of this is beyond our control.”

For instance, he said that incomplete or erroneous addresses account for a good 30 to 40 per cent of deliveries that are not made daily.

Other reasons include illegible handwriting and even old letterboxes in private estates which are no longer secure.

“For the most part, we try our best on behalf of our customers to get deliveries to where they should go,” he said.

He also paid tribute to the postal workers for enduring challenging work conditions such as the searing heat and the thunderstorms after spending some time following postal workers on their beats.

“Cross my heart, I say this is one of the tougher things I’ve actually done,” said the man who cut a trim and athletic figure in the room.

“The work that they go through, and the hours they put in is really quite something.”

WHAT’S AHEAD

Prior to his current role, Mr Phang was ST Logistics’ group CEO.

During his five-year tenure at the subsidiary of Japanese transportation and logistics company Toll Group, The Straits Times credited him for pushing high-tech solutions such as automation and tracking.

Mr Phang hinted that he would be bringing this same strategy to SingPost in time to come.

For one thing, there are plans to invest in technology and automation to help with the laborious process of sorting mail.

"There's some cost (involved), but we don't expect it to be material in impacting our business operation. Don't forget, all this is meant to address certain productivity (or) efficiency issues - making the workload easier for our postmen and also addressing some of their pain points."

There will also be a greater emphasis on providing training for new hires who will be replacing veteran postal workers, who are gradually retiring.

Without going into specifics, Mr Phang acknowledged a number of the new hires are foreigners. However, he also hopes to bring on more Singaporeans by reviewing the job scope to make it attractive to them.

But with delivery services such as Grab competing for the same talent pool, Mr Phang said it will be a welcome challenge to compete in an “interesting landscape”.

On the current public sentiment towards SingPost, Mr Phang said there will always be a perception that the firm is at fault because it is the party delivering mail items.

“Will there be mistakes? In a labour intensive operation, there will always be mistakes,” said Mr Phang, though he is working on bringing it down to a “more acceptable level”.

“The training, the onboarding of people, getting them up to speed; that will take a bit of time,” he said.

“I’ve been monitoring the metrics. There are early signs that things are improving…(but) give us time to be better."