The value of postage stamps is still held in high regard by many South Africans but when stamp shortages or accessibility becomes difficult, users become less reliant on the South African Post Office.
Rob Rudman from Northcliff recently had to use printouts of postage stamps to send his international mail because the post office ran out of stamps. The post offices then opted for sticker printouts instead, he said. When he went to buy a bunch of these stickers, he learned that they were date stamped and needed to be used the same day, or possibly the next.
Paul Fouché, the regional manager in charge of the Witwatersrand region for the post office, said that where individual branches temporarily run out of stamps, they are encouraged to exchange stamps with each other to ensure that they can supply customers with stamps.
“The post office has largely resolved shortages of stamps, which we experienced in the past, and in isolated cases where these shortages occur, they are quickly resolved,” said Fouche who explained that the post office currently has four different types of postage stamps available for international small letters and they do not expire when postal rates change. “Users can stock up on them in advance,” he said.
Stamps are often referred to as tiny ambassadors for a country. A philatelist is a person who collects stamps as a hobby and the post office still rolls out new stamps usually every couple of years.
“We understand that a beautiful stamp is part of the appeal that a letter from another country has. The post office has no plans to discontinue stamps. We have, in fact, just announced a brand new set of international postage stamps celebrating the Krugerrand’s 50th anniversary,” Fouché said.
Edited by Beryl Knipe
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