Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Postage from South Africa, your cheapest options

Postage from South Africa always seems astronomically high, and it's tough to try compete with US based Etsy sellers. On top of that the people behind the counter at the South Africa Post Office (SAPO) don't offer advice on how to lower your costs.

My first revelation was that if you use an envelope sized 353 x 250 mm with a maximum thickness of 30mm and are posting something weighing up to 300g - it will only cost R30.65, but make sure they use the 'large letter' category. (This is in comparison to R23.30 per 100g (or part there of) for a small parcel - a saving of R39.25!)

My latest revelation was that PostNet could be cheaper - their Global Mail product uses DHL to the border, and then local postal services to your customer. Their pricing is also per gram (not per 100g) which made me suspect they would work out cheaper, but after creating a quick Excel sheet, I found out not:

weight SAPO PN (UK) PN (USA) PN (EU) PN (Else)
300 30.65 118.2 120.9 122.4 132.6
350 93.2 137.9 141.05 142.8 154.7
400 93.2 157.6 161.2 163.2 176.8
450 116.5 177.3 181.35 183.6 198.9
500 116.5 197 201.5 204 221
550 139.8 216.7 221.65 224.4 243.1
600 139.8 236.4 241.8 244.8 265.2
650 163.1 256.1 261.95 265.2 287.3
700 163.1 275.8 282.1 285.6 309.4
750 186.4 295.5 302.25 306 331.5
800 186.4 315.2 322.4 326.4 353.6
850 209.7 334.9 342.55 346.8 375.7
900 209.7 354.6 362.7 367.2 397.8
950 233 374.3 382.85 387.6 419.9
1000 233 394 403 408 442
Note: weight in grams, prices in rands (ZAR).

The real question now is, will your customer think you are weird if you send lots of small 300g parcels? It is undoubtably the cheapest, but I guess more separate pieces means more chance of them getting lost. Hmmmm

1 comment:

  1. I had a quote from the post office yesterday on a large letter at R30 or so. Today ( different assisstant ) queried whether or not it was a document and the same large letter cost me R69. I was told that customs were very particular and wouldn't let it go through.

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