Maltapost's novel excuse for non-delivery

I have been following with some interest the lament of Rayvin Saliba of Siggiewi caused by the non-delivery of his registered letter. I felt very reassured by the explanation of Marlene Debattista, Maltapost's communications coordinator, of the problem. I was particularly struck by her assurance "that it was never our (Maltapost's) intention to cause problems". I should hope so too, Ms Debattista!

If she had not mentioned this, such intentions would not even have crossed my mind. But now, I am beginning to wonder whether there was any such intention when Maltapost returned a Christmas card to a sender in Melbourne who had sent her good wishes to a family in Balzan. The Melbourne correspondent did not register this item. Goodness knows it is expensive enough to use the postal service these days without having to register Christmas cards as well. But she paid good money to have them delivered. In any case, I thought that Maltapost's official reason for not delivering the item was rather novel.

The card which was correctly addressed to Mr and Mrs (J Citizen - name withheld but given to the Editor), came back with a Maltapost tag (CN15) stating: "We regret this item was undelivered for reasons stated below". The reason given is "State Mr or Mrs"!

I may be mistaken, but it is my belief that Maltapost is not contracted to deliver mail to individuals but to an existing address which is correctly and clearly written on the envelope.

Has something changed? Is this some new policy that anybody wishing to send mail to Malta from anywhere else - or even from Malta - should be aware of? How does Maltapost intend letting everyone know?