Australia Post proposes changes to Business Mail

Friday, 25 February 2011

Australia Post has submitted a draft notification to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) proposing changes to some bulk business mail services (PreSort) from July 2011. The changes include an average increase to PreSort prices of 1.6 cents (GST exclusive) and improved delivery arrangements for Off Peak business mail.

Australia Post does not propose any increases to the 60 cent basic postage rate.

The proposed changes affect bulk business mail customers only - especially large users of the PreSort letter service like banks and utilities - and has no impact on ordinary letter prices.

The PreSort letter service, provides discounted prices for business customers who barcode and sort their letters prior to lodgement, and is a category of mail that has only had three price increases applied since 1992.

A comparison between the key PreSort price in 1992 compared to 2010 shows that the price has risen only 0.6c or 1.5%, whilst by comparison, the consumer price index (CPI) for the same period has increased by over 60%.

Australia Post is also proposing changes to the Off Peak PreSort letter service to provide improved delivery arrangements, decreasing the delivery window from four days down to two days.

Australia Post's letter business lost over $170m last financial year.