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Directory of South African Courier Companies

Let’s say that in the interests of keeping your blood pressure down, you’d rather use a courier service than the Post Office.

If you’re trying to source a courier, it can be a confusing process. We’ve tried to list as many options as possible here for you to investigate. Let us know if you have any particular recommendations.

In case you were not already aware, Hello Pretty has a built-in automatic integrated fancy Pargo courier option. You don’t need to deal with opening accounts or contracts or anything, and your customers get a much better customer experience. Look on the “Calculated shipping” bit on your store’s shipping settings to configure this.

Please note that this is intended as a guide only, and Hello Pretty is not liable for any transactions with the couriers listed below. Also, join our Sellers Community on Facebook so that you can get advice and opinions from other sellers.

There are four types of delivery to choose from and separated these options by type, and included a special section for shipping large items like furniture.

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Store-to-store

You bring your parcel to the company shipping it. While there, you’ll tell them where it’s going and select a branch most convenient to your recipient. They’ll then send your parcel to that branch, and notify the recipient to come collect it from them.

Store-to-door

You go into a store that has partnered with the courier (eg, Aramex has partnered with Pick n Pay). While there, you buy a courier bag / pay for the delivery and leave the parcel there with the waybill you just bought, filled out. That courier company will then deliver the parcel to the recipient’s door (or whatever physical delivery address you fill in on the waybill).

Door-to-store

The courier will come to your office / home / wherever you’ve registered with them and collect the parcel from you. As a delivery location you’ll have specified a collection point convenient to your recipient. Once the parcel has arrived at the collection point, the recipient will be notified by the courier company to come and collect it from their chosen collection point.

Door-to-door

The courier will come to your office / home / wherever you’ve registered with them and collect the parcel from you. They will then deliver it directly to the home / office / etc of the recipient.

Store-to-store

You bring your parcel to the company shipping it. While there, you’ll tell them where it’s going and select a branch most convenient to your recipient. They’ll then send your parcel to that branch, and notify the recipient to come collect it from them.

Large Items (eg Furniture)

Since Hello Pretty began in 2012, a question that we unfailingly are asked but seldom have an answer for, is: How do I ship big stuff, like the furniture that I make? This question went unanswered until 2020 when we discovered Droppa. They’re an Uber-esque delivery service where if you’re a dude (or girl!) with a bakkie you can sign up and work. And if you’re someone needing a dude (or girl!) with a bakkie, they put you in touch with the dude (or girl!) with the bakkie. You book your deliveries on the website or an app on your phone and KA-BOOM, furniture shipped! 💫 This is the future, we are in it. They’re a Proudly South African startup and we were beyond excited to discover that such a service exists and was created by South African talent, supported by South African investors.

As we mention, Droppa is to date the only service that we’ve found to ship big stuff. There is one other large courier company who does it but we had a concerning experience and decided to ultimately not include that on this directory.