While it is commendable to see Singapore Post giving back to society through house visits, I cannot help but feel that it should first concentrate on its main business of mail delivery (Postman delivers letters - and care; Dec 20).

I am sceptical about SingPost's comment that its postmen "were able to manage their schedules and maintain delivery standards" even with the house visits.

Despite being an established postal and logistics company, its service standards leave much to be desired.

Stories of lost mail and slow delivery are still common.

Queues at post offices remain long because some counters are used for non-mailing services, such as the payment of bills or collection of passports.

One common grouse nowadays is the frequent missed delivery of parcels.

Often, customers receive a memo at their doorstep stating that "no one was at home" and instructing them to collect their parcel at a post office when, in some instances, the resident was actually at home the whole time waiting for the parcel to be delivered.

Perhaps there was a rush factor involved and the postman found it quicker to drop a memo and leave.

If so, then SingPost's claim that postmen were able to manage their schedules no longer holds.

This is not only inconvenient for customers as they have to make a trip to the post office, but it also makes the post office unnecessarily crowded.

There is nothing wrong with SingPost being philanthropic, but I do not think it is ready to do so given that it is lacking in its basic role as a service provider.

SingPost should shore up the quality of its mailing services first.

Sean Lim Wei Xin