Cost of sending letters to go up from January

NAIROBI, KENYA: Postal services will go up beginning next year in a new strategy by Postal Corporation of Kenya to align the business to changing market dynamics and cost of business operations.

The mail products subject to review are letters, postcards, printed papers, newspapers, small packets.

For domestic charges letters weighing 500gms to 2kgs, standard and any other size postcards, printed papers weighing 20gms to 2kgs, newspapers weighing 200gms to 1Kg and small packets weighing 100gms to 2kgs will be subject to a review beginning January 1.

The prices of letters, postcards, newspapers, and aerograms of 20gms to 2kgs via International air mail, surface mail, and surface airlifted to all destinations will also be subjected to a review same as printed papers of up to 5kgs.

“The Communications Authority of Kenya has granted Postal Corporation of Kenya approval and authority to review and effect mail postage rates, the new tariffs are in line with ever-changing market dynamics and cost of business operations.”

The move comes at a time when statistics from the Communications Authority shows a substantial decline of letters posted in the fourth quarter of the Financial Year 2019/20.

During the quarter, the total number of letters posted locally recorded a substantial decline of 58.2 per cent to post 3.5million from 8.5 million letters in the last quarter.

The decline is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted economic activities thus limiting letter postage as a means of communication among corporates, SMEs, and individuals.

Besides, some public institutions adopted online services especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the postage of letters as well.

Consequently, the total number of letters sent in 2019/20 Financial Year dropped to 32.2million from 47.1 million recorded in the 2018/2019 Financial year.

During the Fourth Quarter, the volume of international incoming letters dropped by 35.2 per cent to register 1.7million from 2.6million posted in the last quarter.

Similarly, the number of letters sent to other countries recorded a decline of 61.5 per cent to stand at 332,811 during the quarter under review.

Posta, which was established by an Act of Parliament (PCK Act 1998), operates as a commercial public enterprise.
The corporation’s mandate includes the provision of accessible, affordable, and reliable postal services to all parts of the country.