Travel Restrictions Delay Post Office’s Christmas Delivery Schedule, Urgent Mail Can Be Sent on Time

• The South African Post Office has announced that it is experiencing a two-week delay due to travel restrictions and flight cancellations
• This delay may affect deliveries of Christmas cards and gifts from South Africa to overseas countries
• The airmail delay is expected to be over by January, but there are options available for people who need to urgently send items overseas

PRETORIA - The travel restrictions placed on South Africa by several countries following the Omicron variant have caused the South African Post Office to experience delays in delivering mail overseas.

The post office has announced that there is currently a two-week delay and that people who wish to send Christmas cards and parcels overseas will need to take the delay into account.

If people have items that they urgently need to send overseas, they can make use of the expedited mail service (EMS) to send them. This is an affordable way to get items delivered within 24 hours of sending them, TimesLIVE reports.

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Reasons for the mail delay and how it affects South Africans

There are currently very few international flights leaving South Africa and due to the limited capacity of the aeroplane's hold, the post office can only send a certain number of items at a time. Airmail is expected to resume in January.

“Customers should package international items securely as mail is transported in bulk, and include the mobile phone number of the recipient with the address details," the post office said.

According to The Witness, mail from South Africa to its neighbouring southern African countries has not been delayed.

Reactions to post office delivery delay

@uhonem2 said:

"I thought it was always delayed."

@hafeiloda believes:

"Yip, but they are talking about mail that do.not contain valuables like money. Those with valuables in are lost for ever."

Read also

Omicron's effect on SA's economy: grants, fuel, interest rates, and tourism sector to take a knock

@PaulWil00573947 shared:

"Derailed organization."

@HJnel3 said:

"Unfortunately the SA Post office are on ANC leadership standards and haven't added value to the taxpayers for a long time."

SA economy predicted to face a knock by Omicron variant

Previously Briefly News reported that The Bureau for Economic Research (BER)'s economists predict that the discovery of the Omicron variant will have a negative effect on the South African economy. This will deepen the effects of an economic situation already negatively affected.

October's three-week steel strike and the fourth quarter's loadshedding have knocked the country's economy, which is now being affected further by the new variant.

Travel bans and restrictions placed on South Africa by countries across the world will damage the tourism sector, which is currently trying to recover from previous lockdowns.

Source: Briefly News