RLO stands for Return Letter Office.This office deals with mails that could not be delivered because of any reason.Some of these are as follows :
1. We write wrong or incomplete address of receiver.
2. We do not write address of the sender.
3. We affix inadequate postage on our letter.
4. The postman does not find the addresse.
5. The addressee has shifted to another place.
6.For any reason whatsoever
RLO makes every effort to trace the missing links and deliver the mail. This is done by opening the letter,parcel or whatever , going through the contents to find clue for the receiver or the sender and effect the delivery. If all else fails the unclaimed material is auctioned.
We would have never gained this knowledge if one of our parcel had not gone missing.
Here is the full story.
During our Europe trip when at Titisse-Neustadt, Germeny, we saw a very good cap for girls.It had red woolen balls on the top and two woolen braids on each side . The shop keeper told us that such caps are used by women during their festival / folk dancing. The caps have red and black balls on top. The colour of the ball indicates the marital status of the wearer,Caps with red balls are worn only by single girls,where as black ball cap would mean that the wearer is a married woman.Mummy liked it too much.The cap size was too big for younger grand daughter, so she bought one for our elder grand daughter(GD).
It was a novelty and a good cap.Later Mummy tried it on . It really did looked good.
On returning back from the trip we were too eager to see that our GD gets the cap at the earliest. So we made a parcle with the cap, couple of magnetic stickers and few colourful and shining bangles made from lack.Took it to the courier fellow he checked the volume , you see the charges are by weight or by volume whichever works out more. It worked out to about 250 or so. We decided the we will try the post office and if there was substential difference send it by Post.
You see Post goes only by weight . They do consider the volume but so far as we are considered it may be irrelevant as volume comes in to play only if The length of a parcel exceed 1 metre and the length and girth combined exceeds 1.80 metres.So off to Abhyankar Nagar Post Office .
They said registered parcel would cost 36/-.So I sent it off on 06 -07 11.Postmaster told me it would take 4-5 day for delivery.
On 10-07-11 or so I rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office to tell them that parcel not received by addressee even after 4 days. Told to have patience and wait for two three days more by the Post Master.
13-07-11. Rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office to tell them that parcel not received by addressee even after 7 days. Told to have patience and wait for two three days more by the Post Master.
18-07-11. Rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office to tell them that parcel not received by addressee even after 8 days. Told to have patience and wait for two three days more by the Post Master.
21-07-11. Rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office to tell them that parcel not received by addressee even after 15 days. Told to have patience and wait for two three days more by the Post Master.
24-07-11 Rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office , made lot off noise .It was supposed to reach after 4 -5 days it is now more than 18 days and still not received etc etc..... Was told that generally a complaint can be made after a month but if I want , I can make a complaint . Told them that I WAS complaining . They said in writing . Took out blank page of my letter head and wrote out a complaint . They said attach the registration receipt. Went around searching for xerox shop . Got a copy of registration receipt attached it with the complaint and dumped it in their lap.( I keep couple of blank pages of my letter head with me whenever I go to banks, post office , Income tax office / Govt offices/ service providers to cater for such contingencies.). On further inquiries I was also told that my complaint will be forwarded to superintendent of post office at Giripeth and the result of investigation would be communicated to me at my address.
30-07-11 Went to the post office. They could not give me any further information so off I went to Giripeth Post Office, Met the dealing person and explained purpose of my visit.He dug out the concerned file . After going through it he told me that "as the address on the parcel was not complete it was RTS. RTS being totally incomprehensible to me I was explained that it means " returned to sender" in their lingo.He further said that it was returned from Delhi by Kalkaji Post Office on the 08-07-11, so I should have already got it!! When I told them that I have not got it , he said that as it was RTS It was returned to sender and so I must have got it and that was that.It took some talking to explain to them that even though the Post says RTS I still have not got it, I was advised to check with the post office which makes our deliveries.The news was unbelievable.How was it possible. I had booked it on 06 then how can Klkaji PO say on the 08 that it was RTS on the 8th..Which meant that it had traveled from Abhyankarnagar PO Nagpur to Kalkaiji PO at Delhi and RTS all within a matter of TWO days !!!!! IMPOSSIBLE. But then I could not refute the evidence,I requested them to give me a copy of what they had sent to Kalkaji and their reply.After initial reluctance they obliged. I made copies of those and sent them off to Ashish at Delhi with request to follow it up at Kalkaji end .He rang up after a few days with absolutely discouraging news.
31-07-11 Went to Jaitala PO, Showed them my correspondence.There we checked all the recd parcels correspondence for the whole month . No RTS parcel was received by them.
01-08 11 Went to Giripeth. Explained to them that it was not received even by Jaitala PO.They said they will "reopen the case" and raise a "BSB" ( a backward search bill) .In BSB post office traces the movement of parcel at every stage. PO to RMS(Railway Mail Service) to Delhi RMS - to - Delhi distributing PO that is Kalkaji . In case of RTS the same process is done in reverse and in this process parcels location is found out and corrective action taken. I was told that the whole process is time consuming and may take at least couple of months .
All we could do after that was wait. But I could not leave the matter alone for couple of months so off I went to Post Master Generals office at Shankar nagar PO.I saw the PMG gave him copies of all the correspondence and requested them to hasten BSB process. He said it will be done .
That is where the matter rested. We were going to Singapore to visit Anuj via Delhi , with a weeks stay with Ajeet. I had decided to carry all the related correspondence with us so that I could follow up the case at Delhi end . Even then I almost forgot to do so as at the last moment I forgot to take the correspondence with me.If it was not for Mummy who reminded me at the last moment that I took it with us before starting for the station on 04-11-11.
We were starting for Singapore on the morning of 11th so I had only 6 days to do my job.However the week we were in Delhi was full of lot of holidays and I had only few working days to chase the case of missing parcel.To add to it Ashish was not available till Wednesday which was bit disappointing as without any transportation and sufficient knowledge of Delhi I could have done with his help.With limited time I had no choice but to do it all by myself.
07- 11 -11, Monday. Went to Kalkaji PO. Sat with Post Master till he was relatively free then told him story of the missing parcel.He called the dealing person and I spent next hour or so with him searching the records.Because of the BSB it was quite fast and that we could locate that the parcel was at RLO.New Delhi In fact the fellow showed me a letter informing Giripeth Superintendent with copies to Post master Abhyankarnagar and me that as aresult of BSB the parcel was at RLO New Delhi. Form them took the copies of their correspondence and found out that RLO is located at SRT Nagar PO.which was at Jhandewalan.
Jayati explained how to reach Jhandewalan by metro from Hauskhas. Next two days were holidays.So I decided to go to Jhandewalan by metro on next working day loaded with Jayati's briefing '
It would be my first ride in Delhi metro. It was a very good experience.In fact so good an experience that it deserves a separate blog. So reached the RLO after some search .
There were heaps and heaps of letters , parcels and what have you ,it was amazing to realise how the RLO must be dealing with all these untraceable material.any way so far as I am concerned I told them my story showed them the copies of the letters showing that my parcel was with them , There were again few formalities to be completed like proving my identity , proof of residence address etc . Fonally I got the prcel . I was shocked the state of it :
No wonder the parcel landed up in the RLO. How this happened must be another story.
I was thrilled to get it and went home,Mummy and I thought it proper to let L open it herself..
Everyone wants to get involved.
Finally the cap is out and everyone tries it out.
L.... tries out gifts from Aajee.
This one moment makes one feel that all the efforts were worthwhile.
1. We write wrong or incomplete address of receiver.
2. We do not write address of the sender.
3. We affix inadequate postage on our letter.
4. The postman does not find the addresse.
5. The addressee has shifted to another place.
6.For any reason whatsoever
RLO makes every effort to trace the missing links and deliver the mail. This is done by opening the letter,parcel or whatever , going through the contents to find clue for the receiver or the sender and effect the delivery. If all else fails the unclaimed material is auctioned.
We would have never gained this knowledge if one of our parcel had not gone missing.
Here is the full story.
During our Europe trip when at Titisse-Neustadt, Germeny, we saw a very good cap for girls.It had red woolen balls on the top and two woolen braids on each side . The shop keeper told us that such caps are used by women during their festival / folk dancing. The caps have red and black balls on top. The colour of the ball indicates the marital status of the wearer,Caps with red balls are worn only by single girls,where as black ball cap would mean that the wearer is a married woman.Mummy liked it too much.The cap size was too big for younger grand daughter, so she bought one for our elder grand daughter(GD).
 |
| Relaxing after the purchase. You can see the cap in the plastic bag.. |
It was a novelty and a good cap.Later Mummy tried it on . It really did looked good.
 |
| It looked good !!! |
You see Post goes only by weight . They do consider the volume but so far as we are considered it may be irrelevant as volume comes in to play only if The length of a parcel exceed 1 metre and the length and girth combined exceeds 1.80 metres.So off to Abhyankar Nagar Post Office .
They said registered parcel would cost 36/-.So I sent it off on 06 -07 11.Postmaster told me it would take 4-5 day for delivery.
On 10-07-11 or so I rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office to tell them that parcel not received by addressee even after 4 days. Told to have patience and wait for two three days more by the Post Master.
13-07-11. Rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office to tell them that parcel not received by addressee even after 7 days. Told to have patience and wait for two three days more by the Post Master.
18-07-11. Rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office to tell them that parcel not received by addressee even after 8 days. Told to have patience and wait for two three days more by the Post Master.
21-07-11. Rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office to tell them that parcel not received by addressee even after 15 days. Told to have patience and wait for two three days more by the Post Master.
24-07-11 Rang up Delhi only to be told that it was not received. Off to Post Office , made lot off noise .It was supposed to reach after 4 -5 days it is now more than 18 days and still not received etc etc..... Was told that generally a complaint can be made after a month but if I want , I can make a complaint . Told them that I WAS complaining . They said in writing . Took out blank page of my letter head and wrote out a complaint . They said attach the registration receipt. Went around searching for xerox shop . Got a copy of registration receipt attached it with the complaint and dumped it in their lap.( I keep couple of blank pages of my letter head with me whenever I go to banks, post office , Income tax office / Govt offices/ service providers to cater for such contingencies.). On further inquiries I was also told that my complaint will be forwarded to superintendent of post office at Giripeth and the result of investigation would be communicated to me at my address.
30-07-11 Went to the post office. They could not give me any further information so off I went to Giripeth Post Office, Met the dealing person and explained purpose of my visit.He dug out the concerned file . After going through it he told me that "as the address on the parcel was not complete it was RTS. RTS being totally incomprehensible to me I was explained that it means " returned to sender" in their lingo.He further said that it was returned from Delhi by Kalkaji Post Office on the 08-07-11, so I should have already got it!! When I told them that I have not got it , he said that as it was RTS It was returned to sender and so I must have got it and that was that.It took some talking to explain to them that even though the Post says RTS I still have not got it, I was advised to check with the post office which makes our deliveries.The news was unbelievable.How was it possible. I had booked it on 06 then how can Klkaji PO say on the 08 that it was RTS on the 8th..Which meant that it had traveled from Abhyankarnagar PO Nagpur to Kalkaiji PO at Delhi and RTS all within a matter of TWO days !!!!! IMPOSSIBLE. But then I could not refute the evidence,I requested them to give me a copy of what they had sent to Kalkaji and their reply.After initial reluctance they obliged. I made copies of those and sent them off to Ashish at Delhi with request to follow it up at Kalkaji end .He rang up after a few days with absolutely discouraging news.
31-07-11 Went to Jaitala PO, Showed them my correspondence.There we checked all the recd parcels correspondence for the whole month . No RTS parcel was received by them.
01-08 11 Went to Giripeth. Explained to them that it was not received even by Jaitala PO.They said they will "reopen the case" and raise a "BSB" ( a backward search bill) .In BSB post office traces the movement of parcel at every stage. PO to RMS(Railway Mail Service) to Delhi RMS - to - Delhi distributing PO that is Kalkaji . In case of RTS the same process is done in reverse and in this process parcels location is found out and corrective action taken. I was told that the whole process is time consuming and may take at least couple of months .
All we could do after that was wait. But I could not leave the matter alone for couple of months so off I went to Post Master Generals office at Shankar nagar PO.I saw the PMG gave him copies of all the correspondence and requested them to hasten BSB process. He said it will be done .
That is where the matter rested. We were going to Singapore to visit Anuj via Delhi , with a weeks stay with Ajeet. I had decided to carry all the related correspondence with us so that I could follow up the case at Delhi end . Even then I almost forgot to do so as at the last moment I forgot to take the correspondence with me.If it was not for Mummy who reminded me at the last moment that I took it with us before starting for the station on 04-11-11.
We were starting for Singapore on the morning of 11th so I had only 6 days to do my job.However the week we were in Delhi was full of lot of holidays and I had only few working days to chase the case of missing parcel.To add to it Ashish was not available till Wednesday which was bit disappointing as without any transportation and sufficient knowledge of Delhi I could have done with his help.With limited time I had no choice but to do it all by myself.
07- 11 -11, Monday. Went to Kalkaji PO. Sat with Post Master till he was relatively free then told him story of the missing parcel.He called the dealing person and I spent next hour or so with him searching the records.Because of the BSB it was quite fast and that we could locate that the parcel was at RLO.New Delhi In fact the fellow showed me a letter informing Giripeth Superintendent with copies to Post master Abhyankarnagar and me that as aresult of BSB the parcel was at RLO New Delhi. Form them took the copies of their correspondence and found out that RLO is located at SRT Nagar PO.which was at Jhandewalan.
Jayati explained how to reach Jhandewalan by metro from Hauskhas. Next two days were holidays.So I decided to go to Jhandewalan by metro on next working day loaded with Jayati's briefing '
It would be my first ride in Delhi metro. It was a very good experience.In fact so good an experience that it deserves a separate blog. So reached the RLO after some search .
 |
| This is SRT Nagar PO . RLO is on the third floor. |
 |
| The receivers address was absolutely incomprehensible. |
 |
| Similar was the case with senders, ie my address. |
I was thrilled to get it and went home,Mummy and I thought it proper to let L open it herself..
Everyone wants to get involved.
Finally the cap is out and everyone tries it out.
L.... tries out gifts from Aajee.
This one moment makes one feel that all the efforts were worthwhile.
This was sent on 06 July 2011. Was 45 track there? Even internet was not used so extensively.
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