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Letters

Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words.
I refer to the report, “Hongkong Post scraps permanent contracts for new staff amid financial strain” (August 18).
The postal administration’s decision to place about 200 postal workers who are completing probation on two-year contracts, rather than offer them long-term employment, is troubling. Not because the department should be exempt from financial discipline, but because the government appears to be reaching first for the easiest lever: employment security.
Hongkong Post is under pressure. Mail volumes are falling, costs remain high and its business model needs reform. But postal workers still serve many Hongkongers who are easily overlooked: elderly residents and people living outside the urban core.
Many new recruits might have accepted lower pay than they could earn elsewhere because a public service offered stable prospects. Changing that expectation after the fact risks eroding trust and morale.
More fundamentally, Hongkong Post should not be judged by profit alone. As with libraries and other public services, its value lies partly in providing universal and affordable access. A letter can still be sent across Hong Kong for only a few dollars. That is not simply a commercial proposition.
Still, financial sustainability matters. The answer should be to find new revenue and modernise the network.
Hongkong Post could work with popular intellectual property creations such as Chiikawa, Beyblade and local characters to create collectible stamps, bundled with postcards, stationery and merchandise. Its personalised stamp service, which allows customers to use their own photographs, also deserves far more promotion. I have used it before, and the reaction from recipients showed how memorable physical mail can still be.
The government should also make better use of public property by installing postal collection lockers in government buildings, libraries, sports centres and community facilities. Hongkong Post could go further with self-service posting: allowing customers to prepare and pay for a parcel on an app, place it in a secure locker and then let the postal network handle the rest.
Its existing parcel collection services are already competitively priced, but remain poorly promoted.
Hongkong Post does need reform. It needs better products, stronger marketing and more convenient services. But it should not confuse reform with retreat. Before frontline workers are asked to absorb the uncertainty, the government should show it has fully explored how to make Hongkong Post more useful and commercially imaginative.
Purton Lam, Wong Tai Sin
Tragic maulings of two companion animals were entirely preventable
The horrific incident in Yuen Long, where a large dog mauled and killed two small dogs in broad daylight, is not just tragic. It appears to be a consequence of bureaucratic negligence and a lax regulatory approach by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD).
This tragedy was entirely preventable. The very same large dog had already been involved in an attack on another dog in July. The AFCD intervened, only to release the animal back to its owner with nothing more than a warning. Mere weeks later, the dog attacked again with fatal consequences.
The public deserves answers to these questions. Why did the AFCD consider a warning sufficient after an aggressive dog posed a clear threat to community safety? Why did the department not apply to the court to have the animal declared a “known dangerous dog”? Why was a muzzle order not imposed immediately to protect the community and other pets?
This failure stems from a fundamentally outdated mindset. The AFCD still seems to operate as though companion animals are livestock or farm property; violent inter-animal attacks that do not involve human casualties are dealt with as fights between farm animals. This is completely out of touch with modern Hong Kong society.
Our companion animals are cherished as family members. Also, urban pet density demands proactive safety standards.
By largely acting as a passive bystander, it could be argued that the AFCD shares culpability for the deaths of these two small dogs. Their seemingly slow-footed management of pet ownership has left the community unsafe.
Maggie Tang, Happy Valley


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Hong Kong society

Hongkong Post should not confuse reform with retreat

People queue up to get special National Games-themed stamps at the General Post Office in Central on November 9, 2025. Hongkong Post could strengthen its marketing of existing services like personalised stamps. Photo: Karma Lo

Hongkong Post scraps permanent contracts for new staff amid financial strain

The abrupt move by Hongkong Post has sparked concerns among civil servants. Photo: Jelly Tse. Photo: Jelly Tse

A decline in mail volume has prompted Hongkong Post to review staffing, delivery frequency and its network of post offices. Photo: Jelly Tse

Customers at the General Post Office in Central on Tuesday. Photo: Jelly Tse

How has John Lee’s promise of a ‘new chapter’ for Hong Kong held up?

John Lee Ka-chiu at an chief executive election campaign rally at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on May 6, 2022. Photo: Felix Wong

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (right), and Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee at the Shenzhen Bay Control Point on June 17, after Xia’s two-day visit to Hong Kong. Photo: Jelly Tse

Shiu Sin-por, then the head of the Central Policy Unit, at a forum on China’s Economy and Policy, in Admiralty, Hong Kong, on November 8, 2016. Photo: David Wong

Opinion

Readers discuss ways to make the postal administration more useful and commercially imaginative, and the maulings of two small pet dogs


Readers discuss ways to make the postal administration more useful and commercially imaginative, and the maulings of two small pet dogs.


Hongkong Post

Hong Kong

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Readers discuss ways to make the postal administration more useful and commercially imaginative, and the maulings of two small pet dogs

Readers discuss ways to make the postal administration more useful and commercially imaginative, and the maulings of two small pet dogs