Posta gets nod to raise postage rates again

The Postal Corporation of Kenya (Posta) has received the nod to raise postal charges for the second time in less than a year by the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA).

In a public notice issued on Tuesday, the State parastatal said new letter postage rates for select product and services will kick in from October 1 this year.

The cost of sending a letter weighing up tp 20 grams is expected to rise to Ksh.40 from a previous Ksh.30 while the cost of sending a letter weighing over 250 grams to 500 grams will shoot to Ksh.150 from a lower tariff of Ksh.95.

Further adjustments have raised the cost of sending lenders weighing over 20 grams up to 250 grams to between Ksh.65 and Ksh.85.

The higher postal charges are in response to what Posta terms as changing market dynamics and cost of business operations.

In the bigger picture, the increased charges are geared at cushioning revenues for the cash-strapped government agencies as Kenyans reliance on its services continue to dip.

According to the latest data covering three months to March 2021, the number of letters posted locally was down at 231,506 from a higher 231,851 in the previous quarter.

“Other than the pandemics’ impact on the economic activities, the Government’s directive on adoption of ICTs as a means of communication and service delivery has also impacted postal services negatively, 25 especially domestic mail services. On the other hand, the uptake of courier services grew significantly during the reference period as more Kenyans take preference on e-commerce as a way of curbing the spread of COVID-19,” said the CA.

The volume of international incoming letters nevertheless grew by 14 per cent to 106,044 in the same period while the number of letters send to other countries was up by 7.4 per cent to 376,512 letters.

Posta previously raised postage rates on January 1 this year.