The South African postal service is divided into two sectors. These are the reserved
and unreserved postal services.
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The South African government believes that there needs to be a service obligation
that should be fulfilled by the South African Post Office and that a certain level
of postal service at a minimal price should be offered to all its residents. Specific
postal items up to a certain weight can only be sent through the South African Post
Office (SAPO). SAPO is completely owned by the South African government.
Parcels and consignments beyond the defined scope of the Postal Service can be sent
using the unreserved postal services or by South African courier service companies.
Private South African courier service providers operate in a free market within
the defined scope and compete with each other based on the economic environment
in the country. Some of these South African countries have operations in more than
220 countries and move about 6 million packages every day. The private South African
courier sector is known to control about 1200 aircrafts and 200,000 delivery vehicles.
So while there are various limitations to the specific kinds of consignments that
can be sent using South African courier companies, the scale at which these companies
operate confirms that they are a secure and safe operation that can be depended
upon.
While South African courier companies have many benefits, the price of each courier
delivery is can be much higher when you choose to use a private South African courier
as compared to the SAPO. Therefore it is pertinent for the individual consignment
sender to decide whether it merits sending the material through SAPO or through
a privately owned South African courier service and pay a much higher amount.
The South African courier service sector is fairly differentiated from the regular
postal service. Courier services, more often than not, are faster, more secure,
allow tracking and are customized for the specific parcel that is being sent.
Given these characteristics, it is only normal to use a courier service instead
of the government owned SAPO when the consignment needs to be delivered urgently.
In most cases, a domestic delivery can be made by a courier services within a few
hours of dispatch.
Other times, it may not be the time factor that is important but the specific items
in the parcel that are worth thinking about. If you are sending something extremely
valuable, you may want to use a courier service instead of the regular postal service.
Such items generally include fragile parcels, important documents, stock items and
more.
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this article is the opinion of the Author
and should not be taken as advice