Post office to find its footing
The South African Post Office says almost 1 300 post offices are open for business, however the institution is faced with some challenges.
With three of the city’s post offices now closed, the South African Post Office (Sapo) has said it is trying to communicate with its customers as best it can.
The Sapo spokesperson, Johan Kruger, said while almost 1 300 post offices are open for business, the institution is faced with reduced revenue due to the pandemic’s acceleration and the migration to electronic forms of communication. “This has left it unable to fully service its rentals,” said Kruger.
“We have applied for funding, which will be used to finance operational requirements while implementing the turnaround plan, and a portion of the funding will be utilised to partly settle liabilities and to finance voluntary severance packages.”
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With regards to locals being notified of post office closures and moves, Kruger said that if it is a planned move for the office, a notice is placed in each postbox to inform the customer.
“We also put up notices at the postbox location and at the post office branch that is affected. In some instances, the landlord unexpectedly closes the facility and refuses to give the post office access to the postboxes,” said Kruger.
“In these cases we cannot put notices in each postbox, and we have started to send customers an SMS if they should collect their mail elsewhere.”
When asked what happens to the postal boxes when an office closes, Kruger said this depends on the requirements of the landlord. “In some cases the postboxes remain where they are.”
He said the Sonpark, Steiltes and West Acres post offices are closed. No branches have moved to new locations, and the boxes at the existing branches are still operational.
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“Sapo has achieved good progress in diversifying revenue and becoming part of the e-commerce sector. We are the exclusive partner of the e-commerce giant Wish.com in South Africa and also Mail Americas, Signature Mail, ICE and CNE. The latter two are e-commerce companies from China,” said Kruger.
Kruger said that if customers need to reach the post office, they can send an email to socialmedia@postoffice.co.za or a direct message to their Facebook or Twitter. The handle is @PostOfficeSA.
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