Who is to blame when a parcel goes missing

LETTERS: The Covid-19 pandemic has its fair share of positives, too. For me especially, who happened to join the bandwagon of online business more seriously, it certainly has been a rewarding experience.

With the rise of the Internet and if you're a little savvy with all things digital, this can be the greatest era to be alive. More so to people like me who are in their 60s and do not have the benefit of pensions or gratuities.

By going online, you have the freedom to work almost anywhere you want as long as you are connected

You can sell to anyone in the world, and not be restricted to just your fellow Malaysians. Interestingly enough, you can also work during your preferred timing with flexible hours of your choice.

Now, after two years of joyful selling through online business or e-commerce, comes the problem of parcels not reaching the buyer.

I have experienced delivery delays and parcel damage, but certainly not parcels lost in transit.

This happened about two weeks ago when my so-called regular buyer from Ipoh called me up to say that through his tracking number, the parcel had reached the distribution warehouse in Ipoh but till this very day, it has not reached him.

He had checked several times with the warehouse, but to no avail. On my part, I have done my checks almost daily with my courier shipping company and they, too, are puzzled?

I can understand the situation if it happened during the height of the pandemic, when the country underwent a lockdown, when there was a surge in online orders and logistics firms were straining under pressure.

Certainly not now, when economic sectors are opening its doors wide.

To safeguard the interests of my customer, I have sent him a replacement via a different company.

For readers' information, I sell vintage and rare books online, and I am lucky enough to have two copies of the same title.

He has since received the parcel in good order. In my case, while I don't mind paying for insurance cover but for some customers who are staunch book lovers, it is not so much the full refund or extra compensation they would get but the mere loss of the book is a nightmare.

Like they say: "We can always find the money, surely not the preferred goods."

I am sure logistic providers, big and small, long established or not, face the problems of delivery delays, parcel damage and, worse still, parcels missing in transit as well.

This is understandable, but some kind of mechanism needs to be established to minimise such occurrences as more and more people are shopping online these days.

If there is a dire need to automate more of its processes or boost manpower, why wait? Go for it!

And in a perfect world, parcel delivery would occur on time, without much issue, which would provide positive customer experiences.

AZHARI MAHMOOD

Petaling Jaya, Selangor


The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times

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