Christmas post arrives smoothly in Seychelles as postal services improve systems

Hoareau said that for the Seychelles Postal Services, the busiest time was between September to November. (Seychelles Nation)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Improved electronic systems, an increase in informed customers and a cleared backlog of packages have ensured smooth sailing during the festive season for the Seychelles Postal Services, said a top official on Thursday.

The operation manager at the Seychelles Postal Services, Sabrina Hoareau, told SNA that there has been an improvement in the services provided during the festive season as compared to pre-pandemic 2019.

"After COVID-19, our systems have been upgraded and are now allowing us to do everything online. Previously we would issue slips or receipts to clients which had to be delivered by postmen before a person could collect their parcels. With the new system, as soon as the package is processed a message is sent from the computer directly to the client. This makes things a lot faster," said Hoareau.

Since January to date, the postal services have received 148,945 packages. During the peak month of November, 21,108 parcels arrived. Last year from January to December, there were 47,400.

Another factor that resulted in the post office not being busy during the festive season is linked to online shoppers making their Christmas purchases in advance. Hoareau said that for the Seychelles Postal Services, the busiest time was between September to November, a time when a large number of people were queuing up to pick up their packages.

"At the moment we are clear - we are receiving between four to six bags of parcels which we are processing each day. We currently do not have any backlogs and all the packages are on the shelves awaiting collection," said Hoareau.

The operation manager added that a backlog of 780 kilogrammes of parcels that were stuck in South Africa due to COVID-19 arrived in September causing a significant increase in the number of packages that needed to be dealt with.

With packages from SHEIN - a popular online store among locals - now being processed by ARAMEX, the Seychelles Postal Services no longer have to deal with the great load and orders that come into the country from this particular e-commerce site.

Seychelles Postal Services' chief executive, Mariella Buisson, outlined that next year clients can expect more improvement in terms of services offered by the post office as her office engages other partners to offer delivery services.

"Overseas, the post office delivers to your house but it is different here for various reasons. We are trying to change that. In Seychelles, it is a little bit more complicated as there are no addressing systems, which does not help when trying to know where a person lives," said Buisson.

Providing more detail on how this will work, Hoareau said that as of next year, parcels will be pre-cleared by customs officers, allowing for faster collection and delivery. 

"There will also be in-person delivery next year... A fee will be charged though. The delivery will sort of work like an appointment where the person will provide us with a date, time, and place to make the delivery as we know that during the post-office operating hours, most people are at work," explained Hoareau.

The postal services are encouraging people to join their Facebook page so that they can receive up-to-date information, especially on unidentified parcels, as well as updating their information on the website  www.seychellespost.gov.sc , so that customers' phone numbers are updated, enabling parcels labelled with phone number to be delivered quickly.