our own measurement · ZA → ZM
Two routes, the same morning, two hundred basis points apart
Same supplier, same amount, forty minutes between them. The fees were within a few rand of each other. The difference was entirely in the rate.
Illustrative, not reported. This describes nothing that has happened. It shows the shape a measured finding takes.
Same supplier, same amount, same corridor, forty minutes between them. One transfer went the way this importer always sends money. The other went through a provider they had not heard of.
Both charged a modest fee, and the fees were within a few rand of each other. The difference was entirely in the rate — where it appears on no statement, no invoice and no pricing page.
The slower route also took two days against forty-seven minutes. The faster one wanted an extra declaration per payment, which is a real cost to someone paying suppliers weekly. Whether that trade is worth making is the importer’s call rather than ours.
- Rests on
- our own measurement
- Corridor
- ZA → ZM
Providers are anonymised here and the exact figures withheld — not for effect, but because which providers, the exact spread on each leg, and what settlement asked of both is the product.