Saudi Post loses out SR13bn to illegal courier operators

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JEDDAH: Saudi postal sector incurs an annual loss of SR13 billion as a result of unlicensed operators in the market, said Muhammad Banten, president of Saudi Post. “The Saudi postal market is estimated at SR20 billion annually but the actual sales volume does not exceed SR7 billion due to unauthorized couriers,” he said.


Speaking to Radio Riyadh, Banten said people and organizations all over the world still depend on the postal services a lot to reach their important documents and parcels to various destinations. “Modern technology has contributed to increasing use of postal services,” he said answering to a question.

His statement comes soon after the department launched its new Wasel Aalami service which enables people in the Kingdom to do shopping through the Internet and then get it delivered to their homes. This service helps clients to receive four free postal addresses in the US, Britain, China and Australia.

The service will help subscribers to conduct shopping at well-known international supermarkets. Those who want to register their names for this service may contact the department’s offices across the country or log on to its website: http://www.sp.com.sa" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Banten said the Wasel project carried out by his organization helped in establishing clear addresses of people and institutions in different parts of the Kingdom. It also assisted a number of public departments such as police, passports, civil services, Civil Defense and first-aid services.

Banten also spoke about Saudi Post’s new services such as mubtaes, which serves Saudi students in foreign universities and institutes of higher studies. “Our Jamie service aims at dispatching valuable documents of Saudi students to universities,” said.

He said Saudi Post’s market share was increasing day by day to the extent that it was affecting profits of foreign courier companies. “About 17 million people follow up on their applications at government departments, creating a lot of traffic problems as some of the customers do their work during office hours,” he said, adding that his organization would help these people to complete their procedures at government offices.