Final Word from Thursday, March 27, 2003
The cruelest way to punish an enemy is to send him or her a letter do vlastních rukou. This form of registered mail requires the recipient to sign for it personally, no matter what. In theory the Post Office will deliver the letter, but in practice postal carriers are trained to appear at your door when you're not at home. To get your letter you invariably have to stand in line at the Post Office and watch the clerk search the same box three times before she finds it. IT Minister Vladimír Mlynář plans to change this by launching a revolutionary new form of registered mail. The Česká pošta Post Office will guarantee the sender that an evidovaný letter is delivered to the recipient's mailbox, whether he's at home or not. Registered mail has been such a nuisance, the Post Office says, because bureaucrats in the CR produce 10 times more of it than in other countries. Send the next letter to them.