Service 5: Week 2: Mailroom Service at XLRI

Need:

Collect couriers and letters addressed to me.

Expectation:

To be able to get all letters and couriers and parcels sent to me when I go to the mailroom. Since going to the mailroom is only feasible in between classes, I also expected the mailroom to remain open till at least 3:45pm and also remain open till 12:45 or 1 before breaking for lunch. Another expectation which was set during the first year at XLRI was to receive an updated list of the names of people who need to collect their mail from the mailroom.

Experience:

Since the second year of college began, the courier list on the notice board has not changed. Earlier, a new list was put up every couple of days (at most changed every week). However, this term, since I was expecting a couple of letters and couriers, I checked the list regularly and somehow didn’t see an updated list on any day of the week and am yet to see an updated list. This is an inconvenient change from the previous term where it was easy for us to know that there is a courier awaiting us and we could go and collect it. But the inconvenience caused by the absence of a list was just the first of the many signs of growing inefficiency at the mailroom at XLRI.

After checking the status of my expected courier online using its tracking number, I learnt that the courier had been delivered at XLRI on 2^nd July 2009. Due to the schedule of classes, I went to collect the courier on 3^rd July at 12:30 only to realize that the mailroom had closed for lunch and would open at 2:00. Since I had a class at 2, I assumed the mailroom would remain open till 4:30 like other offices at XLRI. However, when I went again to the mailroom at 3:45, the mailroom was closing for the day and the person in charge requested me to come the next day to collect the courier.

I visited the mailroom again on 4^th July to collect my courier. This time, the person in charge was available and started to search for my courier. He could only locate an Airtel bill in my name and the actual courier that I was expecting could not be located by him. Since this had happened earlier with my Fee Demand Draft courier, I requested him to search again assuring him that the courier has been delivered. He asked me to search for the same in a bundle of letters. I could not locate the courier and he told me to wait for a day or two saying that maybe the courier is still in the courier office and has not reached XLRI’s mailroom.

I visited the office a fourth time for the same courier on Monday, 6^th July. This time, finally, the person in charge was able to successfully locate my courier and give the same to me. My expectations of finding a courier, an updated list and finding the mailroom open were all tossed out the window with this experience. Now I have a parcel showing a delivered status online - I dread the number of visits I would have to make to the mailroom this time!

Service Analysis:

The above figure summarizes the analysis of the service in terms of the Service Trinity based on my experience. The analysis for Employee Management is not applicable as I did not interact with any employees during my experience.

Service Quality:

In order to determine the perceived service quality of the XLRI Mailroom Service the five dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL) have been used. These dimensions are given in the table below along with the quality perceived by me during my experience.

Dimension	Rating (Scale of 1-10) 1 – Poor; 10 - Excellent	Analysis of Service
Tangibles	7	The mailroom is equipped with a computer to track the incoming and outgoing mails, couriers and parcels. The mailroom itself is sizeable and well-compartmentalized to store considerable number of letters et al.
Reliability	7	Although I have received all my couriers and letters from the mailroom till date, the decline in the efficiency of the service at the mailroom has give rise to doubts in my mind about the sustainability of the reliability of the mailroom service.
Responsiveness	6	The mailroom personnel are highly responsiveness and address any queries and search for the letters and couriers as soon as they are asked. However, due to the limited availability of the personnel in the mailroom, the responsiveness also suffers.
Assurance	8	Competence of the mailroom personnel is mediocre in finding the mails and fulfilling all his responsibilities. Courtesy of the mailroom personnel is good and they are generally helpful in finding the required letters. Security of the service is good as I have never lost a courier till now and have never received a torn envelope of felt that the contents of any parcel were damaged or inspected.
Empathy	6	The mailroom personnel are empathetic and trust our word on delivery of couriers. However, if they cannot locate the courier, they are not concerned about the inconvenience caused. The unavailability of the service is also not a concern for the personnel.

Based on the above dimensions of quality, I would summarize the perceived service quality to be of a mediocre level and falling.

Your opinion and comments are welcome.