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Cape Town – The cash-strapped SA Post Office (Sapo) experienced an online systems issue earlier this month that left customers unable to collect or send parcels, but Sapo said on Friday that all was back to normal.
Fin24 user Cherié, who asked that her surname not be used, said the “Post Office has gone over to a new system and they have been down since last week”.
Sapo acting CEO Mlu Mathonsi told Fin24 that there were momentary glitches, “but the system is up and running and our customers are able to track their parcels as per the norm”.
“The SA Post Office is experiencing cash-flow problems, but is currently under the stewardship of the government-appointed Administrator who is expeditiously remodelling the SA Post Office so as it is able to deliver on customer needs and expectations,” said Mathonsi.
Postal failure
“I shipped a Speed Services parcel on Wednesday and paid for it to be delivered to my customer’s door the following day,” said Cherié, who sells small gemstones and delivers them via post. “The item has still not been delivered and when I call I get told that the Speed Services system is down.
Cherié spoke to Fin24 last year about the negative effect the post office strike was having on her business.
READ: Post Office strike causes ripple effect
“They can’t collect or deliver any items as the movement can’t be captured,” she said. “This is leaving me in a predicament once again as my customer paid for the item to be delivered timeously.”
“I’ve also been unable to ship any parcels to my customers via normal post as that system is down,” she said. “This means that our local Post Office can’t accept any parcels. We’ve been trying to contact two other Post Offices in the area by telephone, but their phones are engaged all the time.”
Sapo explains issue
However, Mathonsi said customers were able to ship parcels overseas.
“Post Offices can accept parcels,” he said. “In isolated cases, where the network at a specific office may be temporarily down, the parcel will be scanned into the track and trace system at the next point where it is handled.”
Cherié concluded: “I have gone over to using a courier, but they don’t deliver to the smaller towns and because I sell small gemstones customers aren’t prepared to pay the additional fees required to have their items delivered to those towns. This forces us to make use of the Post Office, otherwise I would cut them out completely.”
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