Singapore post registered mail is the SingPost service that gives you proof you posted something and a signature when it lands. As of October 2026 it costs the normal postage plus a flat $6.16 registered fee, so a single important letter runs about $6.78 to send within Singapore. That fee buys accountability, not speed: delivery still takes roughly two working days, the same as ordinary mail. For most everyday items, $2 tracked mail does almost the same job for a third of the price. Registered mail earns its keep only when you genuinely need a signature on the line, like a legal notice, a contract or a cheque.
Registered Service is an optional add-on layered on top of Basic Mail. You are still sending a normal letter; you are paying extra for a paper trail. SingPost issues you a proof-of-posting receipt at the counter, assigns a tracking number in the format RA123456789SG, and the recipient has to sign for the item on delivery. If something goes missing, that chain of evidence is what SingPost needs to investigate, though it pays nothing out.
The service is meant for paper only. SingPost limits Registered Service (Singapore) to letters, documents and printed materials of no commercial value, up to 500g. If you are posting goods, a phone or anything with resale value, this is the wrong product: SingPost does not accept non-paper items for the service. For parcels you want a courier or Speedpost, which we break down in our guide to courier services in Singapore.
The registered fee is $6.16, inclusive of GST, and it sits on top of whatever the postage would have been. Postage itself went up on 1 January 2026: Standard Regular mail rose from $0.52 to $0.62, and Standard Large from $0.80 to $0.90, the first retail letter-rate change in years. So the real out-of-pocket cost depends on the size of your envelope, not just the headline fee.
Because the higher 9% GST that began in 2024 is already baked into these figures, the prices below are the all-in counter price. If you are budgeting a stack of letters, multiply the per-item total, not just the postage.
| Service | What you get | Cost per item | Typical delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Mail (Standard Regular) | No tracking, no signature | $0.62 | 1-2 working days |
| Basic Mail (Standard Large) | No tracking, no signature | $0.90 | 1-2 working days |
| Tracked mail (letterbox) | Tracking, no signature, up to 2kg | $2.00 | 2 working days |
| Registered Service (Regular) | Proof of posting, tracking, signature | $0.62 + $6.16 = $6.78 | 2 working days |
| Registered Service (Large) | Same as above, larger envelope | $0.90 + $6.16 = $7.06 | 2 working days |
| Registered + AR add-on | Adds a signed receipt card mailed back to you | Registered total + $1.00 | 2 working days |
Acknowledgment of Receipt, or AR (also called Advice of Receipt), is an optional opt-in at $1.00 on top of the registered fee and postage. When you add it, the recipient signs a physical card that SingPost mails back to you after successful delivery. You end up holding the recipient's own signature, which is harder to dispute than an internal delivery scan.
For a routine registered letter, skip it. The base registered service already requires a signature on delivery. AR pays off when you may need to prove receipt to a third party later, such as serving a contractual notice or a demand letter where the other side might claim they never got it. If a dispute could end up in front of a lawyer, the $1 card is cheap insurance. For the legal side of important documents, see our explainer on what a will is and why proof of service matters.
Here is the part most people get wrong. Registered mail is trackable, but it is not the same minute-by-minute tracking you get from a courier app. SingPost states that detailed online tracking is not guaranteed and items are not necessarily scanned at every stage. The dependable proof is the signature captured at the doorstep, plus your counter receipt, not a live map.
If you want frequent scan updates instead of a signature, tracked mail is the better value at $2. It records the journey through the network and drops into the letterbox without anyone signing. You lose the signature, but for an invoice or a non-critical document that nobody will contest, it covers the accountability you realistically need.
Because a signature is mandatory, registered mail cannot simply be dropped in the letterbox. If the postman cannot hand it over, SingPost leaves a Delivery Notification Card at the door and holds the item at the designated Post Office.
The recipient then has 10 working days to act. They can self-collect from that post office with photo ID, or arrange a redelivery to the doorstep, which may carry a charge. Miss the 10-working-day window and the item is returned to sender. If you are the sender, build that lag into anything with a deadline, since a missed collection can quietly blow past a notice period.
Update, 14 October 2026: SingPost no longer pays compensation on registered mail, so the $68 cap this guide quoted no longer applies. Its Registered Service terms (December 2025 version) say no compensation is payable for the loss, damage or delay of any item, in Singapore or overseas, and that you use the service at your own risk. If an item goes missing, SingPost will look into an enquiry when you give it the posting receipt and the RA tracking number, but it will not pay out. It also will not cover the cost of replacing a lost passport, deed or certificate, even if the loss was its fault.
That is why registered mail is the wrong tool for valuables. A replacement cheque can be cancelled and reissued, which is fine. An irreplaceable original with sentimental or evidential worth is not protected at all. Think of registered mail as proof that you sent something, not insurance on what you sent. If you are moving real money, do it through a bank transfer or PayNow instead and skip the post entirely.
Match the service to the consequence of failure, not to how important the letter feels. The cost gap between $2 and almost $7 is large enough that defaulting to registered for everything wastes money fast across a year of mail.
Sending overseas changes the maths too. The international registered fee is lower at $3.60, it pays nothing on loss either, and the weight limit is 2kg until the end of 2026, falling to 1kg from 1 January 2027. For anything time-sensitive abroad, a tracked courier still beats registered mail on speed and visibility, as we cover when comparing delivery options for online orders.
As of October 2026 you pay normal postage plus a flat $6.16 registered fee, both GST inclusive. A Standard Regular letter therefore costs $0.62 plus $6.16, which is $6.78. Adding the AR signed-card service costs another $1.00.
No. Tracked mail at $2 gives you scan updates but no signature and no compensation. Registered mail at about $6.78 adds a required signature on delivery and proof of posting, though no compensation, which matters for legal or contractual documents but is overkill for routine letters.
SingPost leaves a Delivery Notification Card and holds the item at the designated post office for 10 working days. The recipient can self-collect with photo ID or arrange a paid redelivery. If it is not collected within 10 working days, it goes back to the sender.
None. SingPost's Registered Service terms say no compensation is payable for the loss, damage or delay of any registered item, in Singapore or overseas, and SingPost will not pay to replace lost documents. Do not send valuables by registered mail.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change, so verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).