Minister extends Post Office exclusivity period for small packages

The minister of communications and digital technologies has extended the Post Office’s exclusivity for small packages again, which means that courier companies are not allowed to deliver certain packages, but the industry is ready to fight this to the bitter end.

Mondli Gungubele, the minister, published a notice in the Government Gazette on Monday saying that he reviewed the period when nobody apart from the SA Post Office is allowed to provide a reserved postal service and extending the Post Office’s exclusivity until 1 April next year.

According to the notice, the reserved postal service includes in terms of schedule 1 of the Postal Services Act the delivery of all letters, postcards, printed matter, small parcels and other postal articles that weigh less than 1kg or will fit into a rectangular box that is 458mm long, 324mm wide and 100mm thick.

It also includes cylinders with a maximum length of 458mm that are 100mm thick and weigh less than 1kg. The reserved postal service also includes issuing postage stamps and roadside collection from roadsides and address boxes.

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Post Office providing universal service

The notice also explains that a letter means any form of written communication or other document, article or object directed to a specific person conveyed by any other means than electronic sending and includes a parcel, package or wrapper containing the communication or article within the prescribed dimensions.

The minister says in the notice that the legislative framework and licence requires the Post Office to provide these services universally to every citizen in the country to ensure that all citizens have equal access to a basic postal service that is reasonably accessible regardless of physical location, at an affordable and uniform postage rate.

However, Garry Marshall, CEO of the South African Express Parcel Association (SAEPA), says his organisation will fight against this exclusivity for a reserved postal service to the bitter end as SAEPA believes that there is a material difference between a postal service and a courier service.

“A postal service consists of you going to the Post Office, buying a stamp, sticking it on an envelope and mailing it in a mail box. That is not what we do. We collect parcels, do parcel tracking and other services. And we do not do this for the price of a postage stamp.”

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No problem with a need for a postal service

He emphasises that SAEPA does not have a problem with there being a need for a postal service. “If you want to send a jersey you knitted to your grandchild through the Post Office because it is cheaper, by all means do it.

“However, we take argument with the argument saying that we are encroaching on their territory. We will fight it because about 20 000 jobs are on the line here.”

Marshall says the product might be the same, but the context differs. He says courier companies have been doing business in South Africa since the seventies.

“We have been involved in this fight for many years and a court case is pending about this. The case was filed in 2018 when PostNet was barred from these deliveries. SAEPA filed many submissions, but the Post Office has not filed a submission, which could be due to the fact that it is in business rescue.”

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Just another push before the election?

Is this just another jump from government to change something before the election? Marshall says he does not believe that this is the case, as the minister already published his intention to review the extension in February.

The Post Office was placed in business rescue in September last year as it was insolvent and its liabilities exceeded its assets by nearly R8 billion. The entity’s financial collapse meant that it was hardly able to offer these services over the past few years.

No company has been prosecuted so far for rendering the reserved postal service, while consumers have questioned whether they would trust the Post Office to deliver something like a new cell phone or even a pizza.