The Post Office’s practice of sending incorrectly addressed mail back to the sender has been reduced in scope, Economy Minister Patrice Minors announced yesterday.And over the past three years, the amount of mail being processed by the Post Office has declined by one million pieces.Minister Minors updated the House of Assembly on the return to sender policy, implemented in 2009, saying that it had saved the taxpayer about $500,000 a year.“The cost relating to the time used to deliver incorrectly addressed mail was approximately $30,000 $35,000 per month,” the Minister said.“These costs have been eliminated as a direct result of the decision taken not to deliver mail for address infractions.”But she said that 45 percent of the returned mail was postcode infractions which, while most controversial from the public’s point of view, was easily corrected and did not impact significantly on standards or costs.“The Post Office acknowledges that non-delivery is a very serious consequence for a minor address infraction that could be so very easily fixed,” the Minister continued.“It should be noted however that the non-delivery policy has reduced incorrectly addressed mail dramatically.”She said that around 7,500 pieces of incorrectly addressed mail were processed prior to 2009, as compared to just 1,500 pieces today.“I am pleased to announce that mail with minor address infractions will now be delivered,” Ms Minors said, adding that changes in the way mail is processed can reduce the volume of return to sender mail without impacting on costs or efficiency.“This will allow the Post Office to increase our current levels of customer service to the public.”But she warned that only mail with minor address infractions such as missing or incorrect postcodes will be delivered.At question time, Opposition MP Grant Gibbons asked the Minister whether there had been a decline in the number of pieces of mail handled by the Post Office over the last three years. The Minister replied that there had been, and later informed Dr Gibbons that the Post Office was handling one million pieces less mail annually.Government backbencher Dale Butler asked Minister Minors why the return to sender policy was introduced in the first place, since it was now being relaxed.Minister Minors said that the policy was introduced to make the Post Office more efficient and effective and “to consistently meet the high delivery standard.” The policy was relaxed to “become more customer focused.”