EDITORIAL: No ideas in the Post Office mailbox

The slow puncture at the South African Post Office will be no surprise to anyone who has been watching this horror story unravel for the past few years. 

A utility that clocked up R2.2bn in losses last year and has been losing the war against its own subpar management now apparently plans to retrench 6,000 of its 16,275-strong workforce.

The truth is, even well-managed postal utilities across the world are struggling in a digital world that needs their services less and less. But in South Africa, the Post Office wasn’t even able to reliably do what little work there was left, unable to even meet its unambitious performance goal of 80% mail delivery, or prevent high-value items from being pilfered.

It failed to adapt, sticking to inflexible, rigid policies that only worked in the pre-internet era because of a lack of competition.

If there’s an upside to this mess, it’s that we know the system still works: just ask private sector rivals such as PostNet, which are thriving without government bailouts.

Can the Post Office be saved? The odds seem narrow, but in the hands of the private sector, it would certainly have a better chance.