Posta raises cost of sending letters and parcels yet again

General Post Office, Nairobi. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

The Postal Corporation of Kenya (PCK) has increased the cost of sending letters within the country by up to 57 per cent for the second time in less than a year as the parastatal struggles to sustain revenues. 

In a gazette notice to the industry regulator Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), the firm said the review of postage rates was necessitated by increased cost of service delivery. 

Sending letters of up to 20 grammes will now cost Sh40, up from Sh30, while those between 250 and 500 grammes will now cost Sh150, from Sh95. 

“The proposed review is likely to affect the public, local authorities, companies, persons or bodies of persons within the Republic of Kenya,” CA said in a gazette notice dated June 25, 2021.

“The authority wishes to notify the general public that any legal or natural person or group of individuals who are desirous of making any representation and objection to the proposed revision to do so through a letter to the CA director general.” 

PCK carried out a similar price review last year that affected the cost of sending letters and parcels within and outside the country by 60 per cent.       

Last week, the company invited bids for operators looking to lease 64 post offices across the country as part of efforts to raise new income.

The State firm has recorded shrinking revenues in recent years, largely due to competition from private couriers and digital disruption.

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last year worsened PCK’s fortunes, prompting a Sh1 billion bailout from the National Treasury.