I refer to Mr Young Chun Hui's letter ("Increase reliability of mail delivery"; Forum Online, July 15).

Since the privatisation of Singapore Post (SingPost) and the outsourcing of mail delivery service, my family, too, has found more misdirected mail in our mailbox.

Recently, I experienced a cat-and-mouse chase for a parcel that never got delivered to me.

On Oct 28, I received a reminder notice dated Oct 20 that said an attempt was made to deliver a parcel from the United States to me on Oct 7.

I would like to know why, when the delivery attempt failed, a note was not slipped under the door, but instead sent to the mailbox some three weeks later.

The reminder note stated that the item had to be collected within five working days from the reminder date. As the reminder note was dropped into my mailbox eight days after the attempted delivery, the parcel was already heading back to the sender before I could collect it.

On Oct 29, I went to the post office to inquire about the parcel. I was told the branch had no information on the parcel and I was asked to check with SingPost in Paya Lebar, where a staff member said it might have been sent to the airport for return to the sender.

I was told that to retrieve it, I would have to pay $21.

I find SingPost's service to be highly unsatisfactory. Taken together with incidents of getting misdirected mail, I wonder if SingPost is focusing on areas other than its core service, which is now resulting in service breakdowns.

Peh Shun