/ 18 June 2008

Thanks to theft, add R400 to your Amazon order

The South African Post Office is trying to contact internet retailer Amazon.com for details on why it offers limited shipping facilities to SA.

The South African Post Office is trying to contact internet retailer Amazon.com for details on why it offers limited shipping facilities to South Africa after a report that this was due to theft.

”Amazon has never communicated any issues or complaints to us so their actions were unexpected,” said Post Office spokesperson Lungile Lose on a report in Business Day newspaper that theft had made the retailer decide that deliveries to South Africa would have to be done by private courier — adding about R400 to an order.

”Our partners — in this case the United States Post Office — have also not said anything to us with regards to this … we would expect them to say something to us since we don’t have a direct relationship with Amazon,” he told the Mail & Guardian Online.

Items from Amazon pass through other international postal service providers from its depots around the world, so the Post Office would like to speak to Amazon.com for clarity on which part of the route is problematic. ”This is an important customer,” said Lose.

For the period 2007 to 2008, there have been 1 699 reports of mail theft. There is a 99% success rate when pursuing these cases, he said.

The Post Office has installed specialist technology, including cameras at sorting centres, and has established a crime and ethics line for postal workers to report any suspicious behaviour.

No other African country’s postal service has been blacklisted by Amazon, Business Day reported.

Further information from Amazon.com were not immediately available.