Registration flood follows FTW warning to small parcel carriers

ALAN PEAT
OUR WARNING article in FTW on September 9 about small parcel carriers who weren’t registered with the postal regulator by the end of that month possibly facing a fine up to R100 000 has caused a rush of those looking to comply, according to Garry Marshall, executive director of the SA Express Parcels Association (SAEPA).
His telephone has been flooded with calls in the weeks since then, with people in the parcel delivery industry flocking to SAEPA for information on the regulations and the appropriate registration procedure.
Discussions with the regulator have also informed Marshall that there has been a good response from express operators in Gauteng and the Western Cape, but only a poor response from elsewhere.
However, Marshall told FTW, the authorities have also recognised that their original communication programme on the regulations for registering with the postal regulator were ineffective.
“They’ve been going around the country over the last two years,” he said, “but only placing a small, non-specific ad in the papers about the explanatory workshops.”
And, with this inadequate publicity, and understanding difficulties amongst those who did not speak English or Afrikaans as a first language, the explanatory programme was very poorly attended in large parts of the country.
“The regulator is now freely making the admission that they can’t hold people responsible for the lack of forewarning of the new regulations,” said Marshall.
And the authorities now intend to correct this omission, he added.
“They are now going into the smaller centres around the country,” Marshall told FTW, “and arranging meetings with stakeholders and holding explanatory workshops to get the message across to those who missed out first time around.”