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THINKING ALOUD

The postman’s impossible position

When a business can no longer contort itself to fit the world, maybe there’s no room for it anymore

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    • Like many of its commercial mailmen brethren elsewhere, SingPost fights battles on all fronts, fending off rival parcel delivery firms while dealing with shareholder demands for better returns and regulators’ quality of service standards.
    • Like many of its commercial mailmen brethren elsewhere, SingPost fights battles on all fronts, fending off rival parcel delivery firms while dealing with shareholder demands for better returns and regulators’ quality of service standards. PHOTO: BT FILE
    Joyce Hooi

    Joyce Hooi

    Published Tue, Jan 7, 2025 · 05:00 AM

    THE postman simply cannot win. There are losses and Parcelgate lurking in every mailbox, regardless of the form that the postal system comes in.

    State-backed postal services are just so 2024, for starters. President-elect Donald Trump reportedly wants to privatise the US Postal Service, which has lost more than US$100 billion since 2007. In South Africa, the national postal service is on the brink of collapse and its government is unmoved by its plight, leaning towards privatisation instead.

    Ah, but a hot potato, even when bounced from the political to the corporate sphere, remains a troublesome tuber.

    SingPostThinking Aloud

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