{"id":337752,"date":"2020-03-02T11:33:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T09:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=337752"},"modified":"2020-03-02T11:34:11","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T09:34:11","slug":"sa-post-office-vs-private-couriers-pricing-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/it-services\/337752-sa-post-office-vs-private-couriers-pricing-showdown.html","title":{"rendered":"SA Post Office vs Private couriers – Pricing showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South African Post Office recently announced<\/strong><\/a> its updated services fees, which will be implemented on 1 April 2020.<\/p>\n

The new 2020 rates will see users paying more for sending packages, mail, and stamps.<\/p>\n

While the SA Post Office remains one of the cheapest ways to send mail and other small items, it is a different story when it comes to shipping large and valuable packages.<\/p>\n

Many South African consumers and retailers prefer to use couriers<\/strong><\/a> instead of the SA Post Office for package delivery, due to the greater reliability of these private services.<\/p>\n

We compared the Post Office’s updated fees with those listed by private courier companies on their websites to determine which was the cheaper option.<\/p>\n

It is important to note that the Post Office does run a parcel delivery service named Speed Services<\/strong><\/a>, but there is no pricing listed for this service on its website.<\/p>\n

Package price comparison<\/h3>\n

The South African Post Office considers any postal item larger than 250 x 353 mm and\/or thicker than 30mm and\/or weighing more than 1 kg a “parcel”.<\/p>\n

For these counter-to-counter deliveries, it charges R61.35 for the first kilogram, with an additional R8.25 charged for each additional kilogram or part of a kilogram.<\/p>\n

Insurance is an optional extra, and the sender has the option of insuring the ordinary parcel at a rate of 3% of the declared value up to a maximum of R5,000 with a minimum rate of R4.55 per parcel.<\/p>\n

Many courier companies operate on the same policy, charging a flat rate that increases on a per-kg basis once a weight threshold has been exceeded.<\/p>\n

We compared the cheapest available price for sending a 5kg 30cm x 30cm x 30cm package to a local destination in the same city across the SA Post Office, RAM, The Courier Guy, FastWay, and PostNet.<\/p>\n

This comparison does not include waybill or fuel surcharges that are declared separately or insurance costs.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that the SA Post Office and PostNet prices listed below reflect counter-to-counter deliveries, and not door-to-door.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Service<\/strong><\/th>\nMinimum price<\/strong><\/th>\nPrice per kg<\/strong><\/th>\n5kg delivery<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
PostNet<\/strong><\/td>\nR99<\/td>\nR20 (over 5kg)<\/td>\nR99<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Courier Guy<\/strong><\/td>\nR95<\/td>\n–<\/td>\nR95<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SA Post Office<\/strong><\/td>\nR61.35<\/td>\nR8.25 (over 1kg)<\/td>\nR94.35<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/strong><\/td>\nR80<\/td>\nR5 (over 9kg)<\/td>\nR80<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fastway<\/strong><\/td>\nR70<\/td>\n–<\/td>\nR70<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ordinary mail prices<\/h3>\n

Unlike couriers, the SA Post Office charges customers different rates for envelopes, newspapers, rolled items, and postcards.<\/p>\n

These can vary based on whether you supply your own envelope, whether you have paid your postage, and the size of your envelope.<\/p>\n

The SA Post Office price list for ordinary mail is listed below.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Product<\/strong><\/th>\nNew rate<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Client\u2019s own envelope (unsorted\/non-bulk)<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Small<\/td>\nR4.90<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medium<\/td>\nR9.85<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Large<\/td>\nR12.05<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cylinder\/Rolled Items<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cylinder\/Rolled Items (520mm x 70mm)<\/td>\nR12.05<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cylinder\/Rolled Items (620mm x 70mm)<\/td>\nR21.40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rolled addressed newspapers<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rolled addressed newspapers (324mm x 70mm)<\/td>\nR6.50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Postage included (prepaid) envelope (postage and cost of envelope)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Small with and without window and self-seal envelope<\/td>\nR5.20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Small (maxi) with and without window and self-seal envelope<\/td>\nR5.20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medium<\/td>\nR11.30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Large<\/td>\nR15.10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lettergram<\/td>\nR5.10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Postcard<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Change of address (postage paid)<\/td>\nR5.20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ordinary postcard (Post Office card, postage paid)<\/td>\nR5.20<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Client\u2019s own Postcard<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Small<\/td>\nR4.90<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Medium<\/td>\nR9.85<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Large<\/td>\nR12.05<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Now read: Thieves caught with R480,000-worth of stolen batteries<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We compared the Post Office’s updated fees with those listed by private courier companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341028,"featured_media":275737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49317],"tags":[63002,35,3734,1990],"class_list":["post-337752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-it-services","tag-courier","tag-headline","tag-post-office","tag-pricing-comparison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":340833,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337752\/revisions\/340833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}