Coronavirus / Covid-19 & your participation in the postal measurement – FAQ
The spread of the Corona virus is having a major impact on the private and professional lives of everyone across the entire globe, including the postal sector. Below you can find a couple of answers to the questions most frequently asked with regards to the running of the UPU GMS postal survey during this difficult time.
Receiving Test Letters
Please check which of the following situations matches your own
Test letters and the virus - Do I run any risks handling test letters from high risk countries?
From experience with other coronaviruses (i.e. SARS), it is known that these types of viruses do not survive long on objects, such as letters or parcels. According to the World Health Organization, you should not be at risk of contracting the new virus. (See World Health Organization: ‘
Is it safe to receive a package from any area where COVID-19 has been reported?’).
Irregular postal delivery - The postman stopped coming everyday, should I carry on checking my mailbox daily?
In order to guarantee the accuracy of our data for our survey report, we kindly ask you to please carry on checking your mailbox on a daily basis.
If you are unable to check your mailbox daily for any reasons, please let us know. If you have any doubt about the exact receipt date of a test letter, please do not enter its date of receipt online. Instead, please just tick the box “I received the item, but unfortunately do not know the exact date of receipt”. Thank you!.
I keep getting control emails from you! - I already informed you there is no postal delivery...
We kindly ask you to please still confirm the “non-receipt” of your test letters online after receiving the control email. Please keep in mind that we are aware of the current global situation. However, we are doing our utmost to keep carrying out our postal survey as normally as possible. Many of our test letters are still being delivered in spite of the current situation. Thank you!
P.O. Box Receiver - My government imposed restrictions of movement to the public/closed the post offices - What do I do if I can't check my P.O. Box
If this is the case, please just let us know. Once the situation has returned to normal, you may receive many test letters during your first visit to the Post Office. Consequently, we kindly ask you not to enter their date of receipt online. Instead, please just tick the box “I received the item, but unfortunately do not know the exact date of receipt”. Thank you!
Returning Transponders - My government imposed restrictions of movement to the public - What do I do if I am not able to return the transponders?
If this is the case, please just let us know. Return them once the situation has returned to normal. Thank you!
Sending Test Letters
Please check which of the following situations matches your own
Dispatch of Test Letters - My government imposed restrictions of movement to the public - What do I do if I am unable to send test letters?
If you are unable to send them at all, please send us a short message and postpone their dispatches to future dates, once the situation has returned to normal. Reminder for the future: please do not send more than one letter to the same receiver on any one day and please make sure to enter the real date of dispatch online. Thank you!
Dispatch of test letters - No mail is being sent to certain specific countries at the moment - What do I do with test letters addressed to these countries?
In this particular case, please still try to send them by using a street letterbox from your national postal operator (it is possible that this kind of service is not offered in your country) and tell us the last collection times for that letterbox. If any letters are returned to you, please write us a short notice but do not resend them. If you are unable to send the letters at all, please write us a short notice and postpone their dispatches to future dates, once the situation has returned to normal. Reminder for the future: please do not send more than one letter to the same receiver on any one day and please make sure to enter the real date of dispatch online. Thank you!
Sending at the Post Office - Postal employees will only handle my test letters as EMS / FEDEX / Express mail - What should I do?
The UPU GMS survey measures the international airmail transit via the regular postal service only. Therefore, it does not make any sense for our survey to dispatch the test letters via a special / express courier. In this particular case, please still try to send your test letters via the regular post by using a street letterbox from your national postal operator (it is possible that this kind of service is not offered in your country) and tell us the last collection times for that letterbox. If any letters are returned to you, please write us a short notice but do not resend them. If you are unable to send the letters at all, please write us a short notice and postpone their dispatches to future dates, once the situation has returned to normal. Reminder for the future: please do not send more than one letter to the same receiver on any one day and please make sure to enter the real date of dispatch online. Thank you!
Purchasing Stamps - My government imposed restrictions of movement to the public / Stamp vendors are closed at the moment - What do I do if I am unable to buy stamps?
If you are unable to buy stamps, please send us a short message and postpone the dispatches of affected test letters to future dates, once the situation has returned to normal. Reminder for the future: please do not send more than one letter to the same receiver on any one day and please make sure to enter the real date of dispatch online. Thank you!
Participation
Please check which of the following situations matches your own
Given the current situation, I would like to cancel my participation - How do I let you know?
We understand that during these troubling times your participation might feel unimportant. If this is the case for you, just drop us an email and we will pause your participation during this difficult period. Once the situation returns to normal, we will ask you if you would like to be included in the survey again. We will then pick up from where we left off. We thank you for your participation and count on your support.
I am unable to continue my participation due to health issues - How do I let you know?
In this case, please let us know via email or ask your relatives to contact us as soon as possible. We would then pause your participation for a certain period of time. We wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.
If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us at panel@quotas.de.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families all the best. Stay safe.
Your Quotas Team
