HC Deb 03 July 1969 vol 786 cc630-1
23. Mr. William Price

asked the Postmaster-General how many items a year cannot be delivered by the Post Office as a result of bad packing and addressing.

Mr. Stonehouse

We do not keep records but we estimate 0.025 per cent. through poor packing and 0.005 per cent. badly addressed. The number is quite small because sorters go to great trouble to repack parcels and to find the right address for inadequately addressed items.

Mr. Price

Is it not a sad fact that the Post Office will get the blame for the mail that is not delivered? Will the Postmaster-General continue his efforts to persuade people that if they do not address their mail properly they have "had" it and it is no use their abusing the Post Office?

Mr. Stonehouse

I should not like to suggest that they had "had" it. We want to reduce the amount of mail which is badly addressed, and we do our best to achieve this by advertising the correct address which should be used.

Rear-Admiral Morgan-Giles

To minimise confusion in addressing mail, will the Postmaster-General refrain from introducing 6-cypher code markings for towns whose names are spelt with three, four, five or six letters?

Mr. Stonehouse

No, I think that the postcodes are being generally accepted, that they are convenient and that one day they will be operationally helpful to us.

24. Mr. William Price

asked the Postmaster-General what percentage of letters get lost in the post.

Mr. Stonehouse

0.0008 per cent.

Mr. Price

I thank the Minister for his most interesting answer. Would not he agree that, if industry and commerce, which spend so much time abusing the Post Office, could match this degree of efficiency, that would really be something to boast about?

Mr. Stonehouse

I agree entirely. The record of the Post Office is extremely good. There are isolated examples of mail going astray, but when only 94,407 items out of 11,500 million are reported lost in a year, I think the Post Office can claim some success.

Mr. Bryan

Does not that figure relate only to letters reported lost? How does the Postmaster-General know how many are actually lost?

Mr. Stonehouse

We are satisfied that this is a reliable account of the position.

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