Hong Kong postal service told to stamp out underpaid mail

Hongkong Post has been slammed for failing to detect underpaid mail after the government spending watchdog found around 86 per cent of letters posted in a test passed through the stamp-checking system despite being inadequately stamped or not paid at all.

The Audit Commission's report also said many of the city's 127 post offices were located too close to each other, with more than 80 per cent of them recording losses of between HK$350,000 to $5.2 million last year.

"Hongkong Post needs to make continuous efforts to rationalise its post office network, including closely monitoring the performance of post offices," the report said.

The report said a series of recommendations had been made to the mail service provider, such as ways of protecting its revenue, adopting better stamp-checking procedures and reviewing the workload of staff to reduce the need for overtime.

The Post Office Trading Fund, established in 1995 for the operation of the Hongkong Post, has since recorded an operating loss in eight fiscal years.

It did not achieve the target rate of return on fixed assets in 14 fiscal years.