The Cayman Islands Postal Service will partially reopen this week, with one branch on each island opening for two half-days a week, Premier Alden McLaughlin announced at Monday’s COVID-19 press briefing.
Beginning Wednesday, the Airport Post Office on Grand Cayman, the West End Post Office on Cayman Brac, and the Little Cayman Post Office will reopen, and will operate under an alphabetical system, similar to what is in place for supermarkets during soft curfew.
The post offices can be visited on Wednesdays by people and businesses with surnames or names starting with A-K and on Thursdays by those with names starting with L-Z.
The opening hours of the three post offices will be from 9am until 1pm.
A press release from the Cayman Islands Postal Service noted that services available during the two days the post offices are open will include domestic mail service; sale of stamps; post box rental payments (Airport Post Office can accept payments for boxes at any post office; West End Post Office can accept for any Cayman Brac or Little Cayman post box); and utility bill payments.
Mail will be sorted into post office boxes each week so that people or businesses can collect their mail at their boxes, even at post offices that remain closed, Postmaster General Sheena Glasgow said in the release.
Even though public counters are closed, customers will be allowed to collect/post mail from external boxes on any day that they are allowed out of their home; so on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, those with surnames beginning A-K, and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, those with surnames starting L-Z can travel to their post office boxes to pick up their mail.
Those who need access to post boxes inside the General Post Office should email [email protected], or call or WhatsApp (345) 916-6535, to make arrangements to access their post box on a Wednesday or Thursday.
Collection of parcels
The Post Office Service noted in its press release: “Furthermore, to facilitate the quickest delivery of incoming parcels that cannot fit into an addressee’s mail box, or which have associated fees that must be collected on delivery, customers must update their details in the CIPS point of sale system before collecting an item.”
This can be done by completing a customer-details form, available from caymanpost.gov.ky, and submitting the form and a photo ID via email ([email protected]) or WhatsApp (345-916-6535).
Once an addressee’s details have been updated in the system, the customer will be given a number, which must be provided at the time of collection. The number is unique to each customer, but only needs to be requested once and thereafter can be used to collect all future parcels addressed to that customer.
The postmaster general said the Postal Service will be strictly following social-distancing protocols at all those facilities that are open.
She added that the Postal Service is investigating the feasibility of reestablishing an international mail service and will advise the public as soon as those details are available.
Related Videos
By only opening one post office for limited hours we guarantee long lines in the sun and increased risk of infection.
Better to open all post offices for normal hours but require people entering the post office to have their nose and mouth covered. By a scarf, bandana, cut up T shirt or other home made mask.
I’m sure most people would rather cover up for a couple of minutes than spend an hour in line.