Alternatives to SAPO

[Chris Jay]

Wondering how we get parcels in from over the seas and who to use. Sadly I been using SAPO most of my life but after receiving a parcel today that took 9 months to receive, 3 months faster than the last parcel. Plus our postmaster has found a new job and the branch closed down a month or two ago. Who do you use? I cant be bothered anymore with SAPO, but I did give them a 5 star review for progress.

[PsyCLown]

Any other courier is pretty much better than SAPO - pricing is often the bigger factor and I usually opt to go with the cheapest.

The options are mostly limited by the site you are ordering from though, unless you plan on using a forwarding service.

[Prom]

I ordered a 300 rand solar charger from china, 6 months ago. Came with SAPO. Just not to the right one, the one they send, first time ever in 12 years a parcel  ended there and about 300 rand fuel cost to get it. Naaa, wrote email to please send it to a post office close to me, 2 within 5 min drive, not an hour.

Nothing happened, send one more pick up slip, i send 1 more email. Silence. Not to long after i got email from Buffalo Couriers. To go to the mall 5 mins from here, shoe city store, and pick up my parcel.

That was confusing... but i took my scooter and went there with my passport and pickup code.

Was fun when i asked in the shoe shop, if i can actually pick up a international parcel in a shoe shop. But i got my parcel... and i picked it up totally free, no customs charge! That was surprising. Shoe City, better AND cheaper to deliver parcels 

So yeah! Anybody does a better job as the South African Post Office... even a shoe shop  and i bet, that chinese reseller will not use SAPO again  it wouldnt come with any surprise, if the Post Office shuts down within the next three years. Just not a service worth using and more and more options not to use them. 

When ordering material from china, check a bit more detailed and... make an order till you end in the shipping costs. One trader can be 5$ more expensive... but shipping a LOT cheaper, more options. And when they offer free shipping... that is usually not including SA. 

 

[PsyCLown]

@Prom Buffalo are not bad at all and I too had to pick up a Buffalo parcel from a Shoe City before. lol

Sometimes Buffalo have delivered to my door, other times pick up from one of the collection points. Still 100 times better than SAPO.

I have used SAPO in the past, around 2018 and parcels were taking on average 3 months to arrive and you could go collect from the customs depot but was a bit of a drive and a mission - then shipping from China to SA became a lot cheaper via some couriers, such as Buffalo and SAPO got a lot worse, quickly in terms of how long parcels take to be received.

 

For snail mail, SAPO isn't the worst and I have received quite a few letter overs the year via them and even sent some with the person receiving them. This was a few years ago, probably around 2015 / 2016.

I recall receiving a parcel from the US via USPS and it arrived in 4 or 5 weeks and I was able to collect from my local post office back in 2014. If I could get this type of service, I would consider SAPO for parcels which are not important as pricing is really good.