I BELIEVE the postal system in Fiji has its fair share of woes, ranging from missing or damaged parcels to water-damaged mail.

To add to this dreary list, comes the confusing situation concerning Customs inspection of received mail.

It is bad enough that every incoming parcel held by Customs has to be opened in public and charged a minimum handling fee of about $5, the actual mechanism of what mail gets through with or without Customs inspection is rather unclear.

Recently I had received from friends overseas some second-hand children’s comic books and some Sellotape through the mail.

About half the books reached my P.O. box directly, while the other half came through the Suva Customs parcel post.

Being exactly the same used children’s books that should not attract any duty, I was left perplexed as to why I had to pay handling fees for half of them.

Furthermore, the Sellotape in a small, non-tracked bubble envelope also came through Customs even though the contents were clearly marked as “tape”.

It was frustrating having to pay handling charges amounting to more than the actual value of the small item.

When I asked the Customs officer at the post office why this was so and what the criteria were for selecting the parcels for inspection, she was unable to give me a reply, saying that she did not know the reasons and that this was “decided by the Customs officers in Nadi airport”.

Of course, not paying meant relinquishing the mail.

I would urge the competent authorities at Customs to please look into this unjust matter and provide us with some clear criteria as to what mail gets selected for inspection and why, rather that being apparently at the mercy of the whims of Customs officers at the airport, and appearing as some revenue-generating mechanism at the expense of the populace.