How the SA Post Office’s online licence disc renewals will be delivered

The South African Post Office (SAPO) recently launched an online service that allows motorists to renew their car licence discs online.

Upon registration and payment, the new licence disc will be delivered to a motorist’s preferred address or can be collected from a Post Office.

The SAPO said it does not take any commission on renewals and that motorists will only pay the amount on their renewal notice along with the delivery fee, should they opt to get it delivered.

TopAuto contacted SAPO to find out how it is going to deliver the new licence discs to customers.

SAPO Speed Services

“Delivery to the office or home cost R75 and is done through the Post Office’s Speed Services option,” SAPO told TopAuto.

Speed Services Couriers was established as a “fully independent, autonomous business unit” of Post Office in 1991, according to its website.

The business unit claims to offer additional benefits over traditional couriers, such as door-to-counter and counter-to-counter deliveries, as well as no hidden costs.

“Offering an effective overnight courier service with both door and counter options for delivery, in addition to which same-day and early bird service are available,” reads the Speed Services website.

For the new licence disc renewal service, the turnaround time is three working days, while it may take two additional days for outlying areas, said SAPO.

Speed Services tested

TopAuto’s sister publication MyBroadband recently tested SAPO’s Speed Services Couriers with mixed results.

The test involved sending a package from Centurion to Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).

Both the counter-to-counter as well as counter-to-door services were tested to see if the “effective overnight courier service” would work.

After several issues – such as no email feedback and being left on hold on the phone for more than half an hour – MyBroadband was finally able to send the package after physically visiting a SAPO branch.

With the counter-to-counter option, the package was sent from Centurion to Gqeberha in four working days. Sending the same package from Gqeberha back to Centurion through the counter-to-counter option then took six working days.

With the counter-to-door option, the same process took two working days and seven working days, respectively.

This is far from the “overnight” service advertised by Speed Services Couriers, stated MyBroadband.