Australia Post bid for $1.50 stamps ‘a plot to kill letters’
Australia Post is seeking a 25 per cent increase in the price of basic stamps to $1.50 but unions, the electoral council and former chief executive Christine Holgate suggest it is part of a calculated plot to kill off letters.
Australia Post has lodged a notification with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission proposing to increase the price of the basic postage stamp from $1.20 to $1.50 from January 2024.
Australia Post CEO Paul Graham reported a $200 million loss last week. AAP
Annual inflation last week fell to 4.9 per cent in July, from 5.4 per cent in June, although pressure remains on the prices of basic goods and services including rents, insurance and electricity.
Australia Post CEO Paul Graham said the proposed stamp price increase was driven by the$200 million loss it reported last week, which included a $384 million loss for its letters business and an estimated $442 million cost for meeting its community service obligations.
Mr Graham warned the business would soon require a multibillion-dollar bailout and be forced to make significant job cuts unless the federal government, which wholly owns the business, makes changes including dropping daily letter delivery, as part of a consultation process currently under way.
Mr Graham said the volume of letters was expected to halve over the next five years and may naturally phase out within the next 10.
“Each year, our posties are required to deliver to more households, with approximately 200,000 new delivery points added to postal rounds in the last financial year. At the same time, letter volumes continued to decline, and we expect them to halve in the next five years,” Mr Graham said on Tuesday.
Ms Holgate, the ousted Australia Post CEO who is now head
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