In times gone by, when the postal service was run by a government department, Malta had one of the best mail delivery services in the region. The service deteriorated sharply when it was run by a private company, with the government still holding a stake in it. Now that it is a public company, some improvements have already been made but, all in all, it still needs to get its act together.
What use is it for the country to have a spanking new hospital if people have to wait for years to have an operation under the health service? And who would have thought that the Central Bank, too, would come in for some flak over inefficiency in one of its services? The truth is that, even though progress has been made in a number of key areas, including the government, inefficiency is still rampant in Malta.
Visitors to the island do not take long in noticing the islanders' laid-back attitude and, so long as they are not directly hit by an inefficient service, they may even consider this as a quaint characteristic, a trademark, as it were, of life in Malta.
Is this how we would like to be perceived? Surely not, particularly now that we are members of the European Union.
The Administration has had to oil its wheels following membership, and good results have been obtained too, but there are still many pockets where inefficiency remains a hallmark. The Central Bank is not among them, and the complaint raised by a correspondent over the time it took him to exchange old currency into euros at the bank a few days ago might have been a one-off occasion. There are areas, however, where inefficiency and outdated work practices still hamper the delivery of a good service.
Social Policy Minister John Dalli is not one to mince words. His outburst over the hospital waiting lists the other day caused a stir.
But his disappointment over what is essentially an inefficient service is undoubtedly shared by all those whose names are on the long waiting lists. Mr Dalli describes the situation as scandalous.
Those waiting for an operation at Mater Dei Hospital would think so too and would also agree with him that five years is far too long a time to get rid of their ailment.
The postal service still draws a number of complaints. It is still far away from winning back the reputation it had when it was run by a government department. In a way, this is ironic for it defies the general argument that a private company is usually in a position to deliver a better service than a government department. Usually yes, but not always, as the transition of the postal service to a private company has shown ever since the move was made. Indeed, this transition has been far from a harmonious one!
A correspondent in this newspaper complained the other day that one Saturday afternoon he received a call from a neighbour telling him that a postman had left a packet addressed to him on the doorstep of the block of flats where he lived!
The disappointment expressed by the correspondent is, no doubt, shared by those who have experienced a similar shoddy service from the postal company.