Packages from home

It's always good to get parcels from home. But each time we do, we are reminded that we are NOT at home. We miss the NZ postal service.

When we get a package here, it is not delivered to our apartment. It is held at the central post office. We get a little slip of paper informing us that we are to go pick it up.

Obstacle number one: Find the little slip of paper in the apartment pigeon hole.

To overcome obstacle number one, the post office thankfully sends a second notice after a certain period of time. We recently received a second notice, having waited more than 6 weeks for a package to arrive.

Obstacle number two: Find time to go to the post office.

To overcome obstacle number two, I like to send our househelper. This is, of course, quite a common thing, so there is a form to fill in on the back of the little slip of paper where the 'representative' can be named and the adressee can sign for authorisation. But even this is not enough - As well as this form, one has to write a seperate letter informing the post office of the authorisation, AND send along with the representative some ID of the addressee.

Obstacle number three: Philippine beaurocracy.

To overcome obstacle number three, I fill in the form, write the letter and send the ID.

Once, when a parcel arrived for Emily, I assumed that the usual steps were to be taken, so I wrote the letter, signed my name, as parent, and gave my ID, AND (thinking ahead) Emily's ID - i.e. passport. Jenalyn arrived back an hour later empty-handed. She could not pick up a parcel addressed to Emily, with the authorisation from Emily's parent. Being a 3rd party, she was simply too far removed from the addressee. I had to go in myself.

Obstacle number four: Dogmatic Philippine postal workers.

To overcome obstacle number four, the next time a package was addressed to Emily, I decided to send Emily herself, along with her ID (thinking ahead) along with Jenalyn (of course) and a letter from me (just in case) and my ID (should my status as parent be questioned). An hour later, Emily and Jenalyn arrived back home, the latter looking rather exasperated. She had presented the little slip of paper, the addressee herself, along with her passport, the fee for picking up the package (did I mention this earlier?) and the letter from Emily's parent, authorising Jenalyn to assist Emily in recieving the package, and my ID as parent of the addressee.

Well, according to "the beaurocracy", an addressee cannot receive a parcel if the addressee is younger than seven years old. Now this one had us stumped. We were back at obstacle number three, where the solution was for the parent to come in. Jenalyn explained to the postal worker that Emily's mother had a newborn baby to look after and hence had sent her househelper, and in fact had authorised this with a letter and ID. The postal worker proceeded to ask where Emily's father was. Jenalyn then told him that he was at work, as it was early afternoon, and he wouldn't get home until late afternoon, at which time the post office was, in fact, closed. The worker must have taken a minute to absorb this information, and so Jenalyn jumped at the opportunity to ask "Why does the addressee have to be seven years old?" To this, the worker decided that it was related to the signing of the log book, which records that in fact the parcel has been claimed (by the correct person). So Jenalyn brazenly said to the worker "She can sign her own name already! Let her do it!" Presumably because he didn't know what else to do, the worker then proceded to hand over the pen and log book to Emily. She couldn't do it very well initially, as she was being suspended in mid air by Jenalyn, seeing as she couldn't even see the top of the bench. They decided to let her have another try, over at a table with a chair, so the precious log book was handed over the counter, taken to a table, and Emily was seated in front of it. It took almost a whole minute, but she managed (aparently) to stay pretty much to her own 'line' on the page, and she confidently wrote "E M I L Y".

Having navigated all the obstacles, Emily proudly carried her package home, and in doing so, became the youngest person ever to have claimed a parcel at the Makati Central Post Office.