The South African Post Office (SAPO) provides your local postal service, and has an established presence, with post offices throughout the suburbs as well as in town. Whether you are a personal or a business customer, the SAPO offer a variety of mailing and parcel options, including overnight delivery, registered mail and post office to post office delivery. You can also indulge in sending letters and gifts overseas with the SAPO's international service, which includes aerograms, registered mail and parcel delivery.

A particularly nice touch is public access to SAPO's 'PO Box' service. If you are having difficulty getting your mail, concerned about it going astray or simply want your address concealed, you can rent a post box from SAPO. The box resides within the post office and comes with its own number, address and key. To register, you need to nip along to your local post office with some identification, proof of address and the appropriate fee. Then, simply provide your new PO Box address to the likes of your bank or credit card provider, Telkom and Eskom. Your post will be delivered directly to the post office, which, in turn will place it in your PO Box for collection. You can also use the PO Box for parcel deliveries expected via the SAPO (it's worth noting however, that many courier services will not deliver to PO Box as they require a signature from the addressee). Some post offices are more efficient than others, though, and many people have complained about parcels both sent and received that are lost in the mail.

Contact details for SAPO:
Customer Services: +27 12 401 7902
Email: customer.services@postoffice.co.za
Website: www.sapo.co.za

If you are a business customer, you could also make use of South Africa's biggest private owned courier network, PostNet, which has over 200 business centres in every major city and most large town throughout South Africa:

Contact details for PostNet:
Customer Services: +27 860 7678638
Website: www.postnet.co.za

South Africa is also serviced by the world's leading courier companies, as well as a number of local providers, which can offer secure domestic and international delivery. If you are sending or receiving an important parcel, a private courier is reliable than the post office. Here is a selection with their respective websites.

Courier companies:
DHL: www.dhl.co.za
FedEx: www.fedex.com
Skynet: www.skynet.co.za
Sun Couriers/UTI: www.sun.co.za