Shipping to SA: Is There an Alternative to the SA Post Office?
A reality for South Africans is that relying on the postal service in our good ole Republic can be a gamble. Given, there are massive backlogs from lockdowns, as well as other implications of resource limitations and understaffing, but paying for something and not receiving the service can leave consumers frustrated.
As a test, we recently ordered an item from a private seller in Melbourne, Australia, which would be delivered via Australian Post for its AU-side journey, and then transferred to the South African Post Office once landed in the country.
Using the Parcel App service (which is great, by the way), our order from Australia has been in transit for 47 days at the time of writing. It took 5 days for it to arrive in South Africa from Australia; so the other 42 days have been with the SA Post Office. Make of that what you will. 
As the estimated delivery date was passed long ago, some emails and phone calls were made to the SA Post Office, yet no reply was received. The parcel is now in Cape Town, SA, but is yet to be delivered.
Thankfully, we’re patient, but there’s no denying that even with the international order, passing customs within two days (which was very quick), the hold-up has been at the SA Post depot.
The good news is that there are other ways of ensuring that you get your international orders to your door safely, and in reasonable time. South African-owned Postbox Courier, a courier service which not only opens the door to stores in the US, UK, and more that usually don’t ship to SA, but also allows you to bundle orders together, saving you on having to individually ship multiple items.
Having the ability to shop on the big-name retailers in the US or UK — like Amazon, BestBuy, and Walmart — will help you find some seriously tempting deals, with everything from tech, fashion, and gaming goods being discounted regularly. You’ll often find a solid special, even taking into account the customs duties and import fees.
With Postbox Courier, you get a personal postbox address in New York City, London, and other hubs across the world. You can then use this address during checkout when shopping on an international retailer to send the package there, and the trusty team at Postbox Courier will ensure to get it from there right back here to your doorstep in SA.
To find out more about Postbox Courier and just how easy the service is to use, visit the Postbox Courier website here.