A courier service aimed specifically at South Africans who personally shop online, or businesses importing or purchasing goods from the US, Europe or Asia, has recently launched in the country.
Postbox Courier offers locally-based online shoppers or businesses looking to import goods to South Africa a reliable, efficient and affordable service that will save them up to 70% in overseas shipping costs.
According to Gary Hamilton, co-founder of Postbox Courier: “The business initially started in the UK in 2012 as a result of friends and family asking for a dependable way to send their packages back home to South Africa. It soon became so popular that residents in South Africa began to register with Postbox Courier to buy and import goods from various retailers and suppliers in the UK and Europe. We now also have services in the US and Hong Kong and have recently opened our operations in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
“We provide customers with a central delivery point in the US, UK or Hong Kong, to which their online purchases are posted, and we then group their purchases into one delivery to South Africa within a three-day to five-day period. In this way, we are able to save online shoppers and businesses up to 70% on their shipping costs to South Africa.”
South African online shoppers, businesses or expats wanting to send packages and purchases back home to South Africa can register with Postbox Courier to get allocated a personal postbox at any of the company’s worldwide depots. Consumers then start ordering their goods online or directly from retailers and use Postbox Courier’s Parcel Manager system to ship their one purchase or group their purchases for shipping. Parcels are then tracked and delivered directly to the customer’s door in South Africa.
“We have found that many overseas retailers – such as Amazon, Zappos, Light in the Box, Aliexpress and eBay – either don’t offer international delivery on certain products or those that do, charge excessive fees or use unreliable delivery services. With our service, customers can now order parts needed to repair an appliance or the latest tech gadget from a store in the UK, have it posted to their Postbox Courier Personal Postbox, and have it in their hands in South Africa in a matter of days.
Postbox Courier also delivers from the UK, US and Asia to Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.