CAMAGÜEY.-“Since August 2020 I have been waiting for a package that my daughter sent from Gran Canaria, when I tracked it down and I found out that it was in the Mariel. It had 19 containers in front of it. In January, I found out that they had arrived in Camagüey and when I went to General Gómez's office, they very kindly told me that the package was probably there, but there were many and mine could be in any of the bags. They would deliver it to me at home, I am still waiting for it and it is medicine, something I need. In November, they sent me another shipment, which is already in the Mariel, but with 23 containers ahead in line to open it, "a client told Adelante whose story is unfortunately repeated over and over again.

To understand and untie this knot, Adelante this week followed the path that packages travel from arrival in the province to delivery, either at home or collected by the customer at the offices of the Cuban Post Office.

The process seems simple, but once the parcel is unloaded in the logistics unit of the province, because the large dredges or the train cannot directly access the Sorting Center, located on Avellaneda street, it is moved in smaller vehicles to that facility, which, in addition to fulfilling these functions, also receives from all the correspondence of the territory to something as simple as the invoices from the Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa).

KNOT OR BOTTLE NECK

Overflowing the Postal Classification Center of the province, you can hardly walk in there, there are packages everywhere.

The walk begins with the reception and weighing of the suitcase. Between 10 and 20 packages can come inside, sometimes more. It is opened, classified and invoiced for the next site. They also weigh each unit and enter it into the system. There they make the packages that are sent to each of the offices to be delivered at home or collected by the clients, according to the selected option. Everything happens quite rustic in a place that does not have the conditions for that job.

Then in each office they have to do the same, weigh and enter the data into the computer system that allows shipments to be tracked through the mobile application or the Company's website.
Not only happens with international packages, nationals also suffer these incidents; even those sent from here to Cuba and the world have to be processed by the crowded sorting center, which has even had to look for other areas to store what is arriving.

Jorge Carlos Jiménez Leiva, deputy director of Correos in Camagüey, explained that they have had to move administrative and office personnel and even drivers to deal with the explosion of packages.

According to data provided by the Company during 2020, more than 80,600 packages were processed in the province, double the amount received in 2019. This exceeded the entire infrastructure created to handle about 2,000 packages per month; in January 2021 they received more than 10,700.

Jiménez Leiva clarified that every time there is a difference in weight, a claim is established, the case is analyzed and if it constitutes the entity's responsibility, they compensate the client. "But sometimes they send everything here, chocolates, knobs that burst, even potatoes from one province to another have been sent, regardless of how long it may take and obviously they spoil," he emphasized.

FROM THE INSIDE, FOR LOOSENING THE KNOT

Renel Serrano Torres, director of the sorting center, specified that 20 people work with him, 10 are usually dedicated to packages.

“Without considering the reinforcements, at most 15 people have been working only on that. Before, the entries were more regular, now due to fuel problems thousands accumulate to make trips to the provinces. This undermines everything here, since there is no objective capacity for space or workforce to take on such large volumes, especially because of the way we organize ourselves and the responsibility with the package. The same person who opens the suitcase closes the cycle by sending it to its next destination, ”he emphasized, referring to the effort of working overtime to process between 1,000 and 1,200 packages a day.
Other factors that tighten the knot are the weight of the packages, which has also multiplied, and the number of packages with false data to circumvent customs regulations. Due to the delay, many arrive with the labels erased and then they must be identified by decantation.

The deputy director clarified that for those who bring medicines there is a temporary group in the provincial post office that analyzes cases at the request of customers and gives them priority, which "makes the job doubly difficult, it is like locating a needle in a haystack, but we assume it if the case warrants it ”.

Antonio Conde Echevarría is a driver in the Company and today he is mobilized, supporting the packages processing. "Here we do whatever is necessary, open, weigh, pack, I am already trained and I finish a few daily, since the beginning of the year I have been here".

On his part, the young Alberto Toledo Leguén, is quite an experienced, “each one here processes between 200 and 300 packages a day, but we do not have the optimal conditions for the explosion that has occurred. Before, we only used the area behind the Center, now we occupy everything and it is not enough, there are suitcases even in another of the Company's offices. There is also no organized flow, where they enter they have to leave and that hinders work, "he said.

Jorge Carlos Jiménez explained that Correos de Cuba had planned within the repair and maintenance plan to recondition the site, “we have even considered moving it to another place, the project costs just over a million pesos, but this year we will not have the income expected and we will not be able to do anything here ”.

bultos postales cartero

BY THE GREEN CHANNEL OR THE RED CHANNEL?

The route, in the main municipality, continues at the Home Distribution Center (CDD) belonging to Camagüey 1, in General Gómez. This unit was repaired and has the minimum conditions to carry out its work. There they receive the suitcases, weigh them again and distribute the home delivery. They call the other customers to pick them up.

If the package arrives through the green channel, that is, without customs restrictions, there are no major difficulties. If the shipment enters through the red channel of Customs, they summon the recipient, explain the violation and apply the measure. After the remodeling of the CDD, they have a place to store what is destined for that category. Although it remains in the custody of the mail, Customs determines what to do with the package according to the infraction committed.

“We have detected here counterfeit money, unauthorized drugs, satellite phones. The violations in which most are incurred are those of a commercial nature, unauthorized technical means, prohibited and regulated articles, excess value and any doubtful shipment or with a fraudulent declaration is sent to the red channel ", explained Nancy Gutiérrez Méndez, official of Customs.

They also classify equipment such as electric bicycles and others that are properly delivered in that group.
Almost at the end of the tour, this team appreciated a postman who did everything he could to carry a heavy load with him. On a bicycle for which there are no tires, it is not the latest model, much less is it enabled for the delivery of packages, but he insisted that the customer should not wait another day. After several moorings, he left.

Organizational reserves remain, especially if the process is analyzed beyond the borders of Camagüey. Here it remains to improve the working conditions of those who have to deal with thousands of packages a day, demand seriousness and respect for the customer, only in this way will it be possible to untie the knot of the packages.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez