Do you know the secret of SAL?

Sending mail from Cyprus back to the UK – or in fact, anywhere in the world, can be costly. That is, unless you know the secret of SAL. One day when I was in my local Post Office talking to my dear Cypriot friend Angelika, she asked me if my mail was urgent. She explained that if it wasn’t, there was no point paying the high charges for sending it air mail.

But what is SAL? She explained it is Surface Air Lifted mail. Despite the usual long queue, I was intrigued, so asked her if she could tell me more.

She explained that if you send post by air mail, it usually gets to the UK in about 3-5 days from Cyprus. If you send by SAL, it could take up to 3 weeks – but it rarely does - more about that later.

Let’s compare some costs first (in euros), from Cyprus, based on letters, printed materials and small packets:

For a letter weighing 50 grammes air mail costs 1.71 whereas sending by SAL costs 0.68. For a parcel weighing 400 grammes air mail costs 6.86 were as sending by SAL costs 2.73.

Quite a difference! All you need to do when you get to the Post Office is ask to send it by SAL. Along with your stamps, the counter clerk will give you a sticker to put on the envelope/parcel. That’s it!

And here’s a tip you may not know about (this is where it definitely pays to have friends in the Post Office). The plane that takes the SAL mail usually leaves Cyprus on a Thursday, so try to get your mail to the post office by Wednesday. Most of the time, it gets to the UK the following Friday, sometimes faster.

(I really didn’t want to mention the “Christmas” word in March, but here goes. If you are sending mail back to the UK for Christmas and you are using SAL, then get everything in the post by the 3rd week in November at the latest. At this time of the year it will more than likely take 3 weeks – but it will save you a fortune.)

Oh, and don’t forget, you can buy all your jiffy bags at the post office along with any boxes you need for posting. Don’t ask for jiffy bags though, they won’t know what you mean; they call them bubble bags in Cyprus. It’s much cheaper to buy them at the Post Office rather than the supermarket.

Registered services are also available and these are very efficient.

I must just quickly mention this too. I was in the Post Office recently and witnessed a scene that was unbelievable. A lovely Cypriot lady wanted to send a dolls pram by post but she needed it wrapped. It was chaos. I couldn’t stop laughing.

The staff helped her to wrap it up – yes, they do that in Cyprus. There was sticky brown tape everywhere, cardboard all over the place and very loud voices - each person trying to prove they knew how to do it better. You had to see this to believe it; I was in fits of laughter. At one point I thought someone would get stabbed with the scissors that were flying around.

During all this, I just sat at the table sticking stamps on my post (the counter clerks don’t do that for you in Cyprus) and I really took my time. It was so funny. They got there in the end, to cheers of “bravo!” If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I’d never have believed it. But hey, in Cyprus, anything goes!

So remember – save money and use SAL from now on if your post isn’t urgent.

Best wishes and have a great weekend.

Jackie
The Overseas Guides Company
http://www.Cyprusbuyingguide.com

PS: You can also use SAL to Cyprus from the UK.