In the last financial year, the South African Post Office's (SAPO's) e-postal services contributed between R20 million and R30 million to its total pre-tax profit of R565 million.
The services, which have been provided for the past four years, include hybrid mail and electronic billing.
SAPO CFO Nick Buick, speaking at the post office's results presentation yesterday, said the e-postal services' revenue contributions have grown substantially since they were launched in 2004.
"The e-postal services came off a low base and have seen a 60% growth in revenue per annum for the past three to four years. In the financial year of 2007/8, they contributed between R20 million and R30 million to our profit before tax."
SAPO CEO Motshoanetsi Lefoka said SAPO conducted more than 13 million hybrid mail transactions in the hybrid mail units in Johannesburg and Cape Town. It plans to roll out two more units in Durban and Cape Town.
Buick explains that services such as hybrid mail, which sees the post office digitising physical mail for clients and sending it to the nearest pay point to the receiver, have several benefits: they are faster than traditional mail and reduce transportation costs, offering more flexibility to the client.
"Even though we are still comfortable with delivering physical mail, we are not na"ive about global trends and we see the future in e-postal services," said Lefoka.
SAPO says e-postal services were part of its "corporatisation" strategy for the past year. Lefoka pointed out that volumes of physical mail are declining globally, with intelligent mail as the new trend.
"We have embraced technology and we are moving forward with global trends," says Lefoka. SAPO's other e-postal services include electronic billing, where clients can pay their outstanding bills using Internet hubs at post offices. SAPO hopes to introduce the consolidation of bill payments so that people can settle their bills with one payment through the post office.
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