I learned this week that one of the country’s biggest corporate magazine publishers has decided to stop its printed edition. The director who took responsibility told me the suggestion came up during the lengthy Post Office strike: “We wouldn’t have even considered it – but when the strike happened we simply couldn’t get the magazines to our customers. So we decided to go digital.” The savings on postal costs run into tens of millions – and that has been reinvested into the magazine, now published monthly rather than three times a year. And there has been very little negative feedback from customers – most prefer the digital product. Will the SA Post Office learn from this? Judging by Matthew le Cordeur’s contribution , no point in anyone holding their breath. – Alec Hogg
By Matthew le Cordeur of Fin24
Cape Town – The SA Post Office’s (Sapo) annual rates increase has occurred without much publicity both through the media and at Post Offices around South Africa.
The increases took effect on April 1, with most basic postal services increasing by between 30c and 70c.
Sapo did not publish any press release and its rate card is not easily visible on its website, while there are allegedly no brochures in Post Offices around South Africa.
Small ordinary mail increased from R3 to R3.30, medium mail from R5.95 to R6.55 and large mail from R7.30 to R8.
In one of the major changes to its rates card, Sapo cancelled its popular econoparcel option, increasing that size of mail’s price from R22.80 to R40.90.
Fin24 user Paul Knight alleged that Sapo had not even informed its staff. But Sapo told Fin24 that Post Office staff did receive a message on the point-of-sale system before the service was suspended.
Fin24 user Nick Collins said he was frustrated that Sapo had not communicated the price increases with the public.
“A week after the postal rates increase, we have yet to find out what the new prices are,” he said. “No post office has the pamphlets, or knows the prices.
“We inquired at a Post Office for the new brochure, but were told to go to the government printing works website, which doesn’t have it.”
Collins said the rates were not on the Sapo website, but the rates card is actually buried under Frequently Asked Questions and is not easy to find when landing on the home page.
Sapo spokesperson Johan Kruger told Fin24 that he will alert the Post Office tellers to the location of the online rate card to ensure they give customers the right information. –Â Fin24
