[kictanet] EMS Services - The Lethargy

[Odhiambo Washington]

I hope EMS Kenya <http://www.emskenya.co.ke/> is not part of the Postal
Services Corporation for which Bobby Yawe is pushing to be appointed as
Director General (or is it Postmaster General) because if it is, then
surely, Maj. General (Rtd) should really be deployed elsewhere and let Bobby
take over the running of that corporation.

Sample this:

I have this gift I'd like to send to my friend in Oz (Australia). It weighs
only 900g (0.9kg).
I have made several inquiries and found that EMS Kenya have very competitive
rates, so I decided I'd like to use them to deliver this package. Never mind
that my informers tell me the parcels take at least a month to arrive!
Now, my process started by wanting to know why EMS Kenya, on their Bumba Box
Rates<http://www.emskenya.co.ke/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=55>service,
does not have options for 500g and 1000g like other courier
services do. For starters, it was not easy to find the phone contacts for
their Nairobi "office" on their website. It's not listed. So I called one of
the listed offices (KSM) and was given the contact number for Nairobi
branch. I called and sought to know why they don't have the 0.5kg and 1kg
boxes and I was referred to the office of the Head of Marketing. She told me
that it's just that the Bumba Box Rates were designed like that! She did not
appear to take seriously my suggestion that having those two added to the
package might lead to more uptake of the service. He suggestion was that I
can use their "normal security envelope".
If you have looked at the Bumba Box
Rates<http://www.emskenya.co.ke/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=55>,
you'll see that my package falls within the 2kg category. This costs KES
4,900+VAT to send to Oz. On the other hand, their "normal security envelop"
charges KES 4,015+VAT for 1kg to the same destination. I therefore find it
cost effective to find more money to buy additional gifts, so that my
package weight can come upto 2kg or thereabouts, and send it using the Bumba
Box. However, as it stands now (and as it has been for some time now, based
on what the Head of Marketing told me) they DO NOT have the Bumba Boxes at
the moment!!!! Reason? The supplier has been promising to deliver the boxes
for quite sometime now, but hasn't. When I suggested to her to just tell
this supplier to F*** off (sorry for the vulgar language) and get a
different one, she informed me that it's only their Procurement Department
who can do that. I then remembered the bureaucracy and the accompanying
lethargy in the once KPT&C. Kumbe haiishi!!! She (very honestly) knows that
they have not had these Bumba Boxes for some time now, and could not give me
any time frames (even a week) within which these boxes could arrive. Now, I
just wonder, what is she "Head of Marketing" for if she has no power to
"push" the Procurement Depart to "deliver". Does she not take the
Procurement Department as contributing to her failure??

How could it be acceptable to hire and maintain staff to run a service that
has no legs?? EMS Kenya not having the Bumba Boxes is a lame service to me,
even though they have the audacity to tell me that I can use their "normal
security envelops".

At this point in time, I was given the contacts of some staff at the EMS
Centre whom I could talk to in order to get "help". Yes, I will still pay
the KES 4,900+VAT, but I have to impress upon this fellow to see if he can
retrieve some 2Kg Bumba Box that could be lying somewhere within their
network (maybe in Kisumu, Mt. Kenya, Coast, Eastern), for I am sure there
must be one still remaining somewhere. If the fellow does me this "favor", I
am sure to ultimately send my 2Kgs to Oz. I have my fingers crossed for now,
hoping he will manage to "mop up" (as he calls it) one such box and then
give me a call so that I can head to their EMS Centre and dispatch my
package. I promise to send an update on this.

Their logo has this caption: "*Going beyond the extra mile*":)
I am sure all of us have seen so many meaningless (since the organizations
don't even have a semblance of the same) *Mission statements* and *Vision
statements*. They're simply fashionable to have, hanging conspicuously at
the reception/lobby area.

One more vote for Robert Yawe to take over the running of this sleeping
giant. I hope Dr. Ndemo is reading this, and listening too...


-- 
Best regards,
Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
Nairobi,KE
+254733744121/+254722743223
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Damn!!
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