New PostExpress, Santa email services launched

The postal services said on Friday it was launching a new islandwide same-day courier service ‘PostExpress’, a new smartphone information app, and a means to send emails to Santa.

PostExpress is being launched in partnership with the company KronosExpress at more than 60 service points around the island offering daily connections to 82 communities. It will also use ‘track and trace’ technology through SMS.

Conditions include no items weighing more than 30kg. Liquids items must be in waterproof packaging. No animals, or food needing refrigeration and no “narcotics, explosive substances or weapons” or fragile items that are not packed securely, will be transported.

Items of value such as cash, cheques, jewellery, passports etc must be declared at the transaction window. The cash must be counted in the presence of a customer service representative.

“The Cyprus Post will have the right, if this is deemed necessary, to open the items at any time and for any reason,” it said.

In the event the transport charges are to be paid by the recipient and they refuse to take delivery the item is returned and the consignor will pay all transport charges.

Charges will vary depending on which zones are being utilised or the weight of the parcel. Sending an envelope for example will cost €1.68 + VAT. There are a number of surcharges for door-to-door delivery and other preferences such as door-to-point or vice versa or cash on delivery.

The new smartphone app will offer information, not only on track and trace, but also postage costs and postal codes and other services, the post office said.
For Christmas, the postal services are launching a new way to send ‘a letter to Santa’.

The free service ‘Santa2me allows parents to prepare an email, which the postal service will host on a website where children can interact electronically with Santa’s elves at: www.santa2me.com

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.