World Post Day ‒ October 9, 2022 |08 October 2022

The Central Post Office (Photo: Patrick Joubert)

Process of posting small packets and parcels from abroad

On the occasion of World Post Day, Seychelles Postal Services would like to share with customers the process of posting small packets and parcels from abroad in view of the many questions we receive.

The Seychelles Postal Services (SPS) is part of UPU (Universal Postal Union) which is an agency of the United Nations. It was established in 1874 and has 192 member countries.

So, what happens when you post something?

Let’s use Mrs Green as our case study.

Mrs Green goes to a UK post office to post a parcel for her niece in Seychelles.

At the post office, Mrs Green is asked to complete an online Customs Declaration form (CDS), in the form she has to provide all her contact details, the contact details of her niece in Seychelles, the contents of the parcel, listing each item, its value, weight and Harmonised System code (HS code), used by World Customs.

The counter team in the post office then weigh the parcel and charge Mrs Green for postage. They also give her parcel a barcode that allows the parcel to be tracked and links her CDS declaration to her parcel barcode to give her parcel its identity.

Why does one parcel need so much attention and why the fees and forms?

Postage fee – This is so that the postal operator can pay the airline to bring the parcel to Seychelles, pay for its UPU system licences, pay for its labour and transport cost, pay for the postal stationary needed to keep mail safe and to comply with international security measures, (e.g., mail bags, mail bag tags, seals to secure the bags, paper and ink for manifest printing, in house technology etc) and also pay Seychelles Postal Services to deliver the parcel when it arrives here and make a profit too. Post offices are logistics businesses.

CDS form - This is for customs compliance, it informs the receiving country’s customs of the goods entering its territory and allows customs to make an informed decision on the nature of these goods. Are they safe? Are they compliant with local regulations and are they taxable?

Barcode – This is for track and trace, the parcel is scanned along the way, so that the customer and the postal operators know where it is along its journey.

What do different postage rates options offer?

The time it takes for your parcel to arrive will depend on the postage option you choose. As an example, the UK postal operator has nine postage choices ranging from £1.60 to £100+, this is based ondelivery speed, trackability and weight.

If you choose the £1.60 option, your parcel will not arrive for at least 3 to 8 weeks.

Why?

Because the cheapest option is not a priority option, it is an ordinary option with no frills. Also, postal operators wait until they have a big volume of low-cost postage to ship them all together, as it is cheaper for them. Some airlines have minimum weight limit for mail.

This applies to online shopping postage options too. When the delivery is advertised as free, it will take longer. If you need your item quick and trackable, don’t choose the cheapest option. It will take longer to arrive and may go half way round the world before it arrives in Seychelles. We see this with many items from China, they go via Tonga, Uzbekistan and South Africa which are not the fastest or most direct routes to Seychelles.

What happens next?

1. The UK postal operator is a big company, it has many processing centres. The parcel will be sent to the closet one, where it will be classified by destination country.
2. At the processing centre, the parcel will be put in a bag with other items destined for Seychelles, it will be weighed, security scanned by customs and systematically scanned into International Postal System (IPS) by postal employees. But remember, if the cheapest option of postage was chosen, it won’t be sent straight away.
3. The bag it goes in will be part of a bigger dispatch of items for Seychelles. That means there will be several bags, each bag will have many items in it. Each bag will have a manifest attached to it. The manifest will list the content of the bag.
4. These bags will then be booked onto a flight, the flight details are uploaded in IPS by postal employees.
5. SPS will receive information about the flight schedule of the bag. Most mail bags are not flown direct, postal operators search for best price flights. Normally the UK postal operator sends its bag via Ethiopian airline. So, the bags have to change flights. Ali Express items are usually shipped via Singapore, Uzbekistan, Tonga and other places and sometimes come by boat.
6. At the UK airport these bags are checked by aviation security for dangerous goods. If dangerous items are found, they will be removed, and the empty packaging sent on with an explanation note.
7. In transit, when the bags are changing flights, items can go missing from the bags or whole bags don’t board the plane and are left behind. This means the dispatch is not complete and on arrival in Seychelles our international team need to raise a query with the sending postal operator.

What do we do when it arrives in Seychelles?

1. SPS receives relevant information via a UPU system called Quality Control System (QCS), it gives details of the different legs of the journey, country of origin, weight, flights and estimated time of arrival.
2. When it lands at the airport, the bags are handled by ground handling and aviation security first.
3. Then SPS and Customs will receive the relevant documentation from ground handling. The manifest on the bag will be cross checked by all parties, the condition of the bag will be checked for damage, irregularities and missing items. The bag is not opened, the checking is done by weighing, if the weight doesn’t match the manifest, the bag has been tampered with en route or the sending operator has made an error. These irregularities are reported on by customs and SPS, then the international team will inform the sending postal operator of these issues.
4. The bags are then brought to SPS, they are security scanned by customs in the presence of SPS. Bags that raise alarms, are put aside for further investigation and security checks.
5. After scanning, all bags will go under a reader that registers their entry into IMPC (International Mail Processing Centre), after which they are systematically received into IPS as a whole bag, this tells the UK Postal Operator that the bag has entered SPS premises. The clock on delivery performance starts ticking!
6. SPS team will then open the bag in the presence of security. That bag has already been scanned into IPS once, this will show the contents of the bag. The team now have to ensure what is systematically registered is physically there.
7. They scan each item into IPS and if something is missing, the international team needs to be informed immediately for a VN (Verification Note) to be raised with the sending country.
8. Sometimes, a whole bag is missing and may come on the next flight or even later.
9. Damaged/lost/stolen items from the bag are also reported to the international team and they follow the reporting procedures, which involve taking photos of the damaged packaging, what remains of the contents, if any, and use the CDS form attached to the parcel for the cost of the contents, the incident report is then sent to the sending country to request further investigation. If it’s just the packaging that is damaged and nothing is missing, SPS security will re-seal the packaging with SPS logo tape.
10. SPS has to comply with 2 IPS systematic scans, before the item is systematically presented and held by customs, which then places the items in the custody of customs.

After complying with the UPU systems, as per above, our team then have to move to our in-house system PMS to enter all the customer details (address, phone number, tracking number). We enter the information as seen on the package label, and if this is wrong, it causes delays to the processing of the package

PMS systematically classifies items by district, by name and by internal location, it’s like a warehousing management system. For example, if you live at Cascade which is in our room 1 and your surname is Chetty, it will be on shelf 2 in room 1. This is how we know where to locate your item when you come to collect it. If you have more than one address, this causes issues with locating your item.

SPS receives on average 20+ mail bags a day, each bag can contain 80+ items, that’s 1600 items in one day, 40,000 in a working month. To put this in perspective, almost half of the population of Seychelles receives an international package every month though the post.

Why are items held by customs?

Postal operators are required by law to present all items arriving from outside the country to customs. This mail will be checked for contraband and be subject to taxes and duties.

All charges are calculated and applied by customs.

The charges depend on the contents, and where the items came from and if for private or business purposes. Letters, postcards and parcels containing only documents are normally exempt.

Postal operators charge a handling fee to cover the cost of handing over these items to customs, ensuring that they are then delivered to you in a timely manner, recording the proof of delivery for the sending country and your suppliers.

It is important that we do this, to ensure we are covered in the case of lost, non-delivered, damaged, or banned items.

Banned/prohibited items are seized by customs, Postal operators have to ensure it reports the seizure of these goods to the sending country and your supplier, so that they are aware that the goods are not lost or undelivered. It means they don’t have to issue refunds. The postal operator has to terminate the import in IPS to avoid being penalised by the sending country for not delivering the item. Postal operators receive revenue for delivering items within a stipulated timeframe as agreed with UPU. Delayed deliveries / collections impact our revenues.

Delays occur in the collection of your items when you fail to provide customs with all the necessary documents. Please ensure you comply with their requests.

When you fail to collect your item timely, it impacts on our performance.

What happens if you don’t collect your small packets and parcels?

Postal operators have five days to inform you of the arrival of your mail. Mail should not remain in our custody for more than 20 days, as this impacts delivery performance and supplier confidence in our service.

SPS will send you a text message with your tracking number included or deliver an advice slip to your address. We’ll attempt to contact you 3 times within 20 days.

We request that you collect your item within seven days of receiving your text message, on day eight, storage fees will apply.

If you still don’t collect it, we hold on to it until day 30. 

After this time, we’ll see if there’s a return address on the item. If there is, we’ll return it to the sender by the same service used to send it. After at least 20 days you can contact the sender to find out if they’ve received the item.

The post office cannot hold mail for indefinite periods, as its mandate is to ensure it is given to the addressee as soon as possible. With the increase in ecommerce, undelivered mail impacts supplier confidence in the service, as suppliers have to give refunds for undelivered merchandise and then you also later receive the parcel. Hence some suppliers no longer wish to ship to Seychelles via the post office.

We are working on ways to bring the mail to you, but this is a project that is in development and will take some time.

If you can’t collect your mail, you can arrange for someone else to collect it for you.

What happens to undelivered mail?

If there's no return address or franking mark on the item, we have to hand it over to customs. They will open the item to try and find an address. They will contact you for collection but will charge you a fee for every day they store it.

SPS gives it to customs because postal operators are not allowed to open or destroy mail. Customs are the border control authority who have the final say on all item entering the country.

Items not claimed within 30 days will be disposed of according to customs regulations.

We do everything to ensure you receive your mail, however, the following can happen:

The address is not readable.

If the address label came off, or if the address was impossible to read, we may not be able to contact you. We ask that you contact your supplier for details.

The address is wrong or partly wrong.

Sometimes we receive mail with wrong address or a part address. To try and prevent this, please update your address on our website or send us an email.

Please give as much information as possible in your address, such as:

House number/name (where possible)

Road name

District and sub district name

Phone

Please click on this link to take you to our address updating page:

Seychelles Post (seychelles-post.com)

If you are expecting to receive mail:

Check with the sender what address they put on the mail.

We have noticed that some customers have several addresses, this is a problem for us when classifying your mail for collection, as we need to classify it by district, if you are listed in several districts, then it takes time to locate your items.

This will also help our postmen who deliver your letters. 

What ID do I need to collect my item?

To keep your mail as secure as possible, we'll need to see proof of ID before handing any item over.

Please make sure you have:

• The advice slip or SMS, without this you can’t collect your item.

You’ll also need one of the following items:

• Photo ID card.
• Valid passport
• Driving licence

How to collect an item for someone else?

Please bring their tracking number and one of the above forms of ID, in the name of the person the item is addressed to.

Please note: We can only accept original, recent documents.

How does UPU know we tried to contact you?

When we sent you a text message, we record an attempted delivery in the UPU’s tracking system to show we tried to contact you. When you sign the signature pad upon collection, this data is transmitted to the sending post office to show collection.

Our revenue is based on speed and efficiency of delivery and compliance with systematic tracking of items within the UPU system

Fees

Seychelles Postal Services will increase its fees on parcels and also introduce a fee on small packets.

Why do postal operators charge handling fees?

The growth of ecommerce (online shopping) has added extra tasks on postal operators and customs.

Small packets are treated as letter mail, that is items under 2kg, however these items are not like letters, they are small parcels, they require scanning events, added technology, security checks, proof of delivery for suppliers and sending postal operator, text messages to alert you that they are ready for collection and returns if undelivered.

The handling fee covers these added costs

Uncollected item fee

Seychelles Postal Services is re-introducing the above fee, which was put on hold during the pandemic.

SPS informs you of your item’s arrival by text message or delivery slip. You have seven days from then to collect your item. Your item will then be held for another 20 days, and after which time there will be a charge of R15 per day until day 20. If the item still remains uncollected, it will be returned to the sender. Items that cannot be returned to sender will be given to customs.

Your text message or delivery slip will reference the tracking number of the item, upon collection, we will ask you for the tracking number of the item you are collecting, we ask this as each tracking number relates to a tracking sequence that we need to maintain for proof of delivery purposes.

We charge you because we have to store items that remain on our shelves, this is a huge financial risk for us and takes up space that we need to allocate to new items coming in daily.

Our mandate is to make sure that the addressee receives the item as soon as possible.

Express delivery fee

Our express delivery counter, 9646 is being re-introduced. If you wish to have your item Fast Tracked, we will charge you R15. When you receive your text message, please reply with your tracking number by either text or email and we will locate your item and ask that customs gives it priority. We charge a fee, because we need to ensure that we locate your items before that of other customers and put it aside for it to be given priority and to ensure you actually come and collect them, as in the past some customers book a slot but don’t collect the items and we have to return them back to their safe place for security reasons. They can’t just remain on unprotected shelves.

CDS fee

Seychelles Postal Service will offer tablets at the post office for you to complete the form yourself, you can even do it online via our website or on the mobile App at home. Customers who choose to have our counter team complete their CDS declaration for them will be charged R25. We encourage you to do the form yourself, as it means you don’t have to wait at the counter for ages and it doesn’t inconvenience others in the queue behind you. We want to give you a fast service.

We have a video on our website and Facebook on how to complete the form.

This fee will not apply to the visually impaired.

We encourage you to update your contact details on our website. Giving us your correct and updated details is your responsibility.

We rely on your cooperation to offer you a better service.

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