into the 21st Century.

Mr. Crichlow said managing Bermuda's postal service has at times been a difficult challenge and Government legislation that allowed courier services to operate in the Island had added competition that significantly cut into the revenue of Bermuda's postal profits.

"We no longer have a monopoly,'' he said. "The Government effectively broke that by allowing courier companies to work in the Country.

"We've lost a tremendous amount of revenue in our express mail market. We no longer do the lion's share of the market. We've tried to break even, but for the last several years we've been in the red.'' Mr. Crichlow said he understood why Government opened up the market, but noted that more competition was not always a better solution.

"If you can't compete effectively, you lose your market share,'' he said. "I think it's good to have a choice. I also understand that competition improves service.

"But these courier firms are not all that they're cracked up to be,'' he continued.

"They are having their share of problems as well. How many times have I heard of people express mailing things out, only to have it still sitting in Bermuda four days later.'' Mr. Crichlow also pointed out that the Internet had contributed to a loss of revenue for the postal service.

"Naturally, we have been affected by e-mail,'' he said. "When people were overseas they would write, now they don't really have to count on the postal service, they can just e-mail.

"The long distance rates have also dropped and people would rather pick up the phone than write. So these are things that are digging heavily into our revenue.'' Mr. Crichlow admitted that the public may have lost faith in sending overseas mail through Bermuda's postal service because there have been delays in the mail reaching its destination, contributing to their change of allegiance to courier companies.

However he noted the fault was not with his administration and pointed out that Bermuda relied on aircraft to deliver the mail overseas and vice versa.

"It's the mail coming in,'' he said. "Internationally we have a problem. We are depending on another administration that may or may not be as efficient as they should be.

"If American Airlines decides that the mail has to be bumped because it's full of passengers, then that mail will sit there and pile up. Bermuda's mail has been bumped so much, it has become a normal procedure.'' Mr. Crichlow maintained the postal service was looking at solutions to make itself more competitive and effective and was looking to add to the number of services it provided.

"The job we do is really a delivery job,'' he said. "We have to expand that delivery service.

"There are some services that deliver flowers and all those kinds of things and we are hoping to do that. We also want to expand over the Internet.'' Mr. Crichlow said he was very keen to put the Bermuda postal service on line and proposed the buying of stamps over the Internet as an option.

In addition, he floated the idea of opening the post offices to receive bill payments such as telephone and electric bills, with the post office receiving a collection fee.

"We are going to provide other services to boost revenue,'' he said, "but presently we're looking at new ways to reorganise our courier service.'' Y et Mr. Crichlow contended that the postal service's first priority was to serve the needs of the public and suggested that his staff were more in tune to their needs than the courier services.

He maintained that recent Government budget cuts had not made it easy for his administration to always meet those needs.

"You have to make a decision on what should be the focus of the post office,'' he said. "Are we here for the needs of the populace or are we here for the bottom line? "I believe that we are here for more than the bottom line, we have to provide a service for the population. I know we can do it much better, but you can't get the dedicated staff that you used to get. Budget cuts have presented a problem and we are doing the best we can under the circumstances.'' Mr. Crichlow noted that he hoped the public would see a new and improved postal service before year's end and added that if Bermuda's postal service was to remain a viable and competitive unit in the community, then there would be more change to come on the horizon.

"We want to try and even the situation out,'' he said. "Roughly by the end of the year we should be up and running.'' Man of letters: Clevelyn Cricklow, who believes the postal service must change if it's to survive in today's economic climate.

BUSINESS BUC