5 Major Advantages of using Post Office Money Transfer service as opposed to other Operators

Money transfer services are dominating the financial services industry in Africa. This is for obvious reasons that include; employee remuneration, family support, loan delivery, payment of installments, etc. Options for transferring cash from one location to the other are many and the post office stands out in many but five qualities.

Please note that this is with respect to African post offices yet other continents may identify with these.

1. Price competitive. The post office stands out for offering price competitive services. You may have to compromise a few things with other services but when it comes to money transfer, there is nothing that gets compromised at using the post office.
2. Extended network. In Africa, the far reaching formal business network is through the post office. Banks and other financial service providers cannot match the post office in terms of physical network coverage. Many service providers, including the banks, opt to join hands and work with the post office to reach the furthest parts of any country in Africa. Postal administration are a global network, beyond what the banks can do. Banks do network but most often it means more charges to the customer.
3. No withdrawal fees. In some countries, mobile money, that is normally offered through cell phone networks would charge for both cash deposits and withdrawals, the same applies with the banks. It is not the case with the post office, the only person that gets charged is the sender and the recipient get his or her money as is.

4. Reliability. The post office has embraced technology and many African post offices have automated their counters. This  makes the post office to be more accountable and reliable in service offering. Most counter automation for postal administration is customized and not off the shelve. This makes the service even friendlier to the customers.
5. Cash assurance. The post office is often healthy in cash flow. Even if at any point a particular postal branch runs out of cash, there is reliable back up from nearby outlets. Mobile money that works with rural grocery shops and other similar businesses get limited by the cash liquidity of these outlets. These outlets most often are not related such that they cannot share their cash freely.


I do appreciate that many people, particularly those that do work for the post office and those that do not have relatives working there have limited knowledge about some of the excellent services offered in the post office. It is good news to know that the post office can thrive on the money transfer service and leverage on its advantages.

How long will it take for my posted item to be delivered?

The post office works slightly different from a courier company. When you post an item through the post box, it will be collected from there once a while, normally in intervals of 30 minutes. Street posting boxes may be collected a little bit less frequent yet they also should be cleared at least once a day. You also must observe critical times as highlighted in the post 'How to quicken delivery of your postal item', point number 2.

Sorting is the process of separating items according to destination and it is a process that follows after collection at the posting box. If your item has been received before the critical time, it will connect to the next sorting centre on the same day or within 12 hours. The last step is sorting to destination office by the sorting centre. Finally, your item will then be delivered to a post box.

Depending on the size of the operation, the distance between origin and destination, the item delivery standards vary. It is expected for the postal administrator to publicise delivery standards according to destination categories. Rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to urban, international and regional will should be made known to customers.

 

the global standard is 6 days at 80 percent, which unfortunately most postal administrations struggle to meet, particularly because they have no influence when the items or mail bags have gone beyond the boundaries of their country.

 

This knowledge will help you make an estimate of the time it will take for your item to get delivered to your destination office.

 

Photo taken from: http://www.savethepostoffice.com/how-slowing-down-standard-mail-paves-way-ending-saturday-delivery

How to track a postal item

Postal items allocated with bar codes will be traceable. This you will know at the time you post your item. You may as well inquire about this service at the time of posting.

Most postal administrations are empowered to track items internally, and a few have an extended web based facility that the customer can use at will. Postal administrations that track internally will do so if you provide the correct particulars of your item, whether over the phone or when you present yourself in person at the post office.

Postal administrations that provide self service tracking normally provide it through their corporate website(s). You normally don't have to be a registered user, as long as you have the bar code of your item ready.

This you must know? Even if the postal administration of origin, where you sent the letter from, does not have the external tracking service, the destination office may have. In such a case, use the same bar code to track through the destination post office website. This is because the post office is a global network. When they receive the item at their end, they will use the same bar code to capture it into their system. Most European, American, Asian and some African countries provide the self service track and trace facility. I suggest that you try the destination country website before you make a call to the origin office.

I have help many customers through track and trace services of the America post office, the Royal Mail and the South African Post Office in the past. It simple works and all the customer needs is an update. Sometimes the system would inform me that the item was delivered but no one collected it. It would the inform me if the item has been returned to the sender or not.

Don't stress but use the post office with knowledge. 

Thank you for reading.

How do you know if your postal item will be traceable in the Post Office?

Tracing and item is a premium service in the post office. Not all items sent through the post office will be traceable. This is because the post office will accept almost any type of mail for delivery at minimal fees, and yes the post office is popular for cheap rates. 

Ordinary items, mostly letters, are not traceable because they are not allocated any bar code at the time of posting. This means that even if the mail bags they will be enclosed to is traceable, but ordinary items inside wont be known. All the post office can trace is the mail bag to a particular destination, which may or may not contain your ordinary item inside.

Some parcels, known as small packets, may not be traceable because they have features of an ordinary letter. 

Rule of thumb for traceable items:

1. If you have to deliver the item at the counter to have it posted, then it most likely will be traceable. Most such items are allocated a track and trace bar code. You will be given this par code most of the times yet in some cases you may not. Keep the code for future use in case your item needs to be traced. Some postal administrations provide self track and trace service through their websites while others would do the tracking for you when you call. 

2. If the item has an additional charge other than postage, it most likely qualifies for being allocated a tracking bar code.

3. If the item is posted under specific parcel service within the post office, such as EMS, then it will definitely be traceable through a bar code.

The Bold Desired Customer

If you want to be sure, it is encouraged for you to inquire as to whether your item will be traceable or not. Postal or counter officers will be happy to assist. Ask to find out if you can do the track and tracing yourself or you have to call in for assistance. you will gladly be given the information.

How to choose packaging for your item to post

First, you must know that the post office will charge based on weight than volume. However, some special service may use volume to price shipment. In this post I will focus on the traditional method, which is weight based charging. It normally becomes cheaper to post one large item than splitting it into smaller ones. In general, the cut off weight for postal letters and documents is 2 kilograms. Above 2 kilometers items are classed as parcels.

Secondly, know that item is the post office are handled with care but there is some throwing and tossing around of mail bags during processing and transportation. Items that cannot fit into a mail bag are shipped as is, normally as it was packaged by the customer. Fragile items should be clearly labeled so but this does not mean that your item will not be transported in a different vehicle.

Let me now give you the tips:

1. Get a strong package material that will withstand the conditions of mail handling. If your item cannot fit into a mail bag, the size of a standard bag you would have in at your home, try for a hard cover packaging like a box.

2. Choose a package that will fit the contents. Avoid placing loose contents inside a package. If for any reason you have to use a larger package, fill the empty space with fondled paper. Plastic or some very light material.

3. Choose a package fit for purpose. There is a variety of packaging material in the market. Some are cushioned and some are not. Do not compromise on packaging because your item may get damaged. Rather be safe than sorry.

4. Don’t use an over attractive packaging. You don’t what your items to be suspicious to people that will handle your it. This might draw the attention of inspectors who might even engage police sometimes. Anthrax and other forbidden items are still popular in the post office and they are first suspected from the packaging. Your item might also have to be inspected under a controlled environment, thus delaying delivery of your item.

5. A light weight package will save you on postage costs.

Some post offices sell the packaging at their counters and they are best positioned to direct you tot he right shop to get some. Indeed the post office is not dead, get to your nearest post office and enquire on how to package your item for even more specific tips.

Quality of Service in the Post Office

The African continent had to adopt globally acceptable standards of handling mail otherwise the global postal industry would be weaker in the continent, yet the postal operation is a network across continents. The Universal Postal Union (UPU) committed resources to help the region in various ways, including strategic regional quality of service projects. 

A checklist of quality pointers was developed at global level, reviewed whenever required, to use as a benchmark for the ultimate. Even though it is not an ISO certification but the checklist does not compromise on any quality feature for any reason. The target is largely on international mail handling, including parcels and registered items. All countries should comply and not, they are scored low and it is a public notice to all operators. 

This exercise has help African postal administrations to improve its quality a lot. Rest assured when sending your item through the post office that the global eye of UPU is watching the operators and therefore your item is in good hands. 

How to quicken delivery of your postal item

The post office remains relevant even today, besides the fact that hard copy documents and letters still flood postal sorting centers, e-commerce has empowered the post office as well. The global trend show an increase in the number of parcels handled within the post office.

People that want to use the post office should know that the post office has a global obligation of delivering shipments on time. The global delivery standard, even though many countries cannot meet it, is 6 days at 90 percent success rate. All postal administrations have an obligation to work towards meeting this goal. This is a topic for another day but for now let me give you some guidelines on how to make sure your items takes the shortest time possible to reach the recipient.

1. Observe critical times of posting.Critical time is an estimated time it takes for the last item posted to get into a mailbag that will connect to the next sorting center or office. Items posted late in the day are most likely to be left for processing the following day. However, this might not be the case with postal administration that have night shifts. It is a standard requirement for postal operators to put critical time notices on posting boxes.

2. Post at the begging of the week. If the post office is closer to where you go for church, try posting after lunch on Sunday. This will make your postal item get Monday priority and connect on the very first processed letters.

3. If you have a chance or you will be travelling to bigger cities or towns, take your item with you and post it from there. Bigger post offices normally have enhanced operations with more staff and the best equipment.

4. Address your item clearly. If your hand writting is not good, the sorting officer might be tempted to put it aside and deal with it later. This is surely not the right way of doing things, but we are largely talking about people doing the work in Africa. Even a sorting machine might reject your item for human handling if the address in not clear. You will have done yourself great favour printing the postal address from a computer.

These are just tips that will cost you no extra charge yet they will help you optimise the delivery standard of your item.