Companies ‘delivering’ poor quality, our expectations and standards

A few weeks ago in America, some 20,000 pieces of undelivered mail were found hoarded in a US postman’s garage. The missing mail is said to have included many important documents such as cheques, bills and official letters.

Thinking about the implications of the undelivered mail bewildered me. It’s an absolute outrage that this happened! What if something extremely important went missing? One assumes that when mail is posted that it will reach the destination in a timely manner, un-tampered with. This is the trust we place in our postal service. We expect high quality, we expect high reliability.

Why is it, then, that we accept sub-standard performance from other organisations and institutions? Many times we are unhappy with a service provided to us; the quality of a product; or the timeliness of a delivery. Why do we not hold other organisations to the same standard as we hold the postal service, in the example outlined above?

It’s unfortunate that companies, institutions and governments get away with so much, unscathed.

Do you agree?