Condo parcel lockers and old letter boxes: the parcel numbers, the law and who pays

Businesses in Malaysia earned RM1,288.1 billion from online sales in 2024, up 8.8% from RM1,184.1 billion the year before, according to DOSM (the Department of Statistics Malaysia).

From October to December 2025, couriers moved 434,791,300 parcels within Malaysia, according to MCMC. In those same 3 months, 57,565,100 pieces of letter mail went out within Malaysia. That’s about 7.6 parcels for every piece of letter mail.

The parcel count was 25.4% higher than a year earlier.

Letter mail was already falling, from 596,529,700 pieces within Malaysia in 2019 to 456,868,000 in 2020, a 23.4% drop.

Letter boxes and the law

Under the Postal Services Act 2012, a letter box is a container a person sets up to receive mail sent to them or to their address. Nothing in the post law says a building must have letter boxes, though it lets MCMC make rules on letter boxes and how they are used.

For a licensed company, delivery means leaving an item at your address, in your letter box or another box made for your mail, or with you or someone treated as allowed to receive it.

If parcels keep piling up downstairs, it may be worth asking management where couriers are meant to leave them.

Food orders

The Food Hygiene Regulations 2009 say anyone carrying food must use a clean vehicle that can hold the right temperature.

Who pays for shared parts

In Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan, a condo’s shared parts, called common property, are run by the JMB or MC, under the Strata Management Act 2013. Either one must keep them in good repair, and may buy or hire movable property (things not fixed in place) for owners to use there.

Owners pay for all this through the maintenance fee and the sinking fund. The sinking fund (money saved for bigger jobs, such as repainting) must be at least 10% of the maintenance fee, and it can also pay for that movable property. If a parcel locker sounds useful, the owners’ meeting is a good place to raise it.

From vacant possession (the handover of a unit to its buyer) until one month after the JMB is set up, the developer sets the maintenance fee. The Commissioner can extend this time. The developer also pays the maintenance fee and sinking fund on units it hasn’t sold.