1. Australia Post – still getting the stamp of approval?
Russell Grenning
Early in December, as I was waiting in line to buy our Christmas card stamps, a nice
young lady holding a clipboard asked me if I would like to participate in a survey
which, she explained, was designed to rate customer satisfaction of Australia Post’s
service.
Given that the line to the counter stretched out of the post office and into the mall, I
thought her mission was one fraught with problems right from the outset. However, I
like to think that I am a co-operative sort of chap and, anyhow, I had nothing else to
do.
The woman behind me, struggling with a pram laden with parcels, made a snorting
sort of sound of disapproval. Frankly I was wondering if she should be reported to the
child safety folks because if there was a baby in that pram it was in imminent danger
of being crushed to death. But I keep myself to myself for which everybody I know is
grateful.
I pondered the opening question, “What do you think of Australia Post’s services?” I
thoughtfully asked, “Do you mean today?” then a parcel slipped off the pram and
landed heavily on my foot. Bloody hell, I thought, this woman is sending lead bricks
to her loved ones.
“Well, no. I mean, ummm, like overall,” my inquisitor gently inquired.
“Well dear,” I replied through teeth clenched in pain, “I’m old enough to remember
when the postie came twice a day – morning and afternoon – during the week and on
Saturday mornings as well. And on a push bike. And he blew his whistle.”
She showed signs of backing away. The line wasn’t moving so I pressed on with my
interesting, helpful and insightful observations. “You weren’t born then so you
wouldn’t know. But that was service dear. That was service.”
In fact, I can remember our postie well. A big, burly sort of bloke and during the
school holidays when I was alerted to his impending arrival by ever louder blasts of
his whistle, I would get mummy to make a cold drink for him and I would stand by
our mail box ready to present it. He told me that I was a very nice boy which I still
am, more or less. I could have told the survey lassie all of that too.
But, for some reason, she didn’t write anything of this down and turned tail and fled.
The news that Australia Post will ask the Federal Government next year for a 10 cent
rise in the price of the basic stamp to take it to 70 cents comes as no surprise. They
have a regulated monopoly on your basic stamp so can charge whatever they like,
subject to Ministerial approval. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull can stop
worrying about the National Broadband thingy for a moment when he gets that
request. You can bet he will approve it.

2. Letter volumes peaked in 2007 – 08 with 4.6 billion letters posted and in 2012 – 13,
they had fallen to 3.6 billion, down 22% to the 1994 – 95 level. Australia Post argues
that it now costs more than 60 cents to deliver a letter.
Once upon a time we had the Postmaster-General’s Department which handled letters
and telephones. On 1 July 1975, they split into Telecom Australia (later Telstra) and
Australia Post. Australia Post was originally the Australian Postal Commission but
from 1 January, 1989, it became the Australian Postal Corporation whatever that
means. It seems they were “corporatized.”
But the rules for Australia Post haven’t changed. They still have what are called
Community Service Obligations which basically means they have to be able to deliver
letters anywhere to anywhere and for the same basic cost. It is plainly absurd that it
costs 60 cents to send a letter from Cairns to Perth – the same cost as sending a letter
next door.
A truly commercial operation would charge by distance but Australia Post is not a
truly commercial operation. It also pays a dividend to the Federal Government which
is 2012 – 13 was $244 million. If Minister Turnbull and the Government wanted to
hold the basic stamp to 60 cents they could do that by forgoing the dividend – but
what are the chances of that?
Turnbull says there are no plans to sell Australia Post – and Labor agrees – and the
question does arise: who would want to buy it when it is tied down by Community
Services Obligations?
The boom in on-line shopping has been a winner for Australia Post and its parcels
business is growing by some 10% a year but, they say, this revenue increase doesn’t
cover the losses from standard letters.
Back in July 1975, when Australia Post emerged from the Postmaster-General’s
Department during the Whitlam Labor Government, it was obliged to be self-
sufficient. Previously profits from the telephone network propped up the loss-making
letters.
Immediately, the price of your standard stamp went from 10 cents to 18 cents which
was a whopping increase and caused a public outcry. The then Opposition ran huge
two-page newspaper advertisements with the 10 cent stamp on one page and the 18
cent stamp on the other. The caption read, “What Labor has done to the stamp, it has
done to Australia”.
It was a powerful message. Later that year when the Liberal – National Party
Opposition became the Government it did exactly nothing to cut the price of stamps.
I can remember that in 1966, the first year of decimal currency, the stamp cost 4
cents.
Nowadays, the single daily delivery to households and business is, well, problematic.
A letter might get to its destination the next day, or the day after or the day after that.
No guarantees at all really. It means Australia Post will get it there as fast as they can.

3. So now we have Express Post which guarantees next day delivery and Courier Post
which guarantees same day delivery in metro areas of the same state within a defined
network. Naturally, the charges are pretty stiff and nobody blows a whistle either
when they are delivered.
Registered post is supposed to ensure they won’t lose it which to my mind implies
that your regular letters could be pinched, lost or just thrown away which is a
discomforting thought. We didn’t get as near as many cards for Christmas as we once
did.
I could have told that nice young lady doing the survey that I also remember when
post boxes and vans all carried the Royal Mail insignia – that quietly vanished when
Australia Post paid a fortune for its new corporate look. Republicanism by stealth I
call it.
And remember when letters from governments were printed with O.H.M.S? That
meant – if you are young or ignorant or very possibly both - On Her Majesty’s
Service when I was a kiddie.
In 2009, Australia Post celebrated two hundred years of mail deliveries in Australia. I
don’t think that they over-stressed the fact that the first postmaster, Isaac Nichols, was
a former convict. It might have invited upsetting comparisons.