Australia Post is raising prices for various delivery services including domestic parcels, Express Post, as well as international mail and parcels, but consumer protection organisations accuse the postal operator of making customers “shoulder price increases” despite its rising profits.
From October 2 onwards, the prices of some of Australia Post’s mail and parcel products will rise by an average of 2.8%. The changes will impact selected domestic parcel products and services, Express Post parcel and letter products, international letters and parcels, mail redirection and mail hold services, unaddressed mail, money order services and registered post imprint. For domestic parcels, customers would have to pay between 15-35 cents more.
Australia Post said it is “committed to delivering an accessible, reliable and sustainable mail service”. “These pricing changes will ensure we can continue to invest in our large and trusted delivery network, covering more than 4.000 post offices and 11.6 million delivery points each day. This will also allow us to manage increasing costs across the delivery network. For most products, this is the first price increase in over 12 months.”
“We recognise that pricing changes are not easy for our customers and we have worked hard to keep prices unchanged on a large number of popular products, including on our parcel post satchels and seasonal domestic greeting card postage. We are also reducing the price of postage for a range of international parcels to New Zealand and Great Britain, and will continue to offer more than five million Concession Card holders up to 40% off a range of products and services.”
Australia Post said that it will continue to maintain the postage rate of domestic seasonal greeting cards in November and December at their October 2013 prices. There is also no change to the basic domestic stamp price of $1 for consumers and 60 cents for MyPost concession account holders.
An Australia Post media spokesperson said that the cost for sending international letters will rise by 1.9% while postage cards sent to regions like USA, UK, Europe will go down. Last year, customers were hit with price rises on several services, months after the cost of a standard stamp was increased to $1.
The price increases come just weeks after it was revealed that the company’s former CEO Ahmed Fahour received almost $11 million in pay and perks in his final year. Australia Post’s after-tax profit also rose to $95 million, compared to $36 million in 2016.
However, an Australia Post spokeswoman blamed the price rises on increasing costs of delivery.
Australia Post also highlighted the investments it made in its network. “In the last 12 months, we have made substantial investments in our delivery network including launching six dedicated Qantas freighter aircraft and announcing 500 additional free Parcel Locker locations at Woolworths sites.”
But Erin Turner from consumer group Choice said Australians often had to bear the rising costs. “Whether it’s big bank paying out huge bonuses and not delivering to customers or Australia Post increasing prices and paying huge amounts to executives, Australians are attuned to unfairness,” she said.
“That’s what every company needs to think about when they are considering price rises. It is reasonable to expect small price rises. However, large increases can really hurt some people. People who rely on postal services may not have access to online services and this might affect their budgets.”
