August 7, 2019
Australia Post has lodged a draft notification with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission seeking an increase in the basic postage rate from $1 to $1.10 from January.
If approved, this would be the first rise in the cost of sending a letter in four years.
An Australia Post spokesperson said the price rise would help to keep post offices open, including in regional and rural areas.
Group CEO Christine Holgate said the 60 cent price of concession stamps would be protected. This rate covers pensioners and veterans.
The special Christmas card rate of 65 cents would also stay the same.
“In the last financial year, we delivered a profit in-line with that three years earlier. We did this with 820 million less letters delivered to over 700,000 more homes,” Ms Holgate said.
“Our posties deliver to more than 12.1 million addresses across the country. It doesn’t matter if they have one letter or 100 for the address, they still need to drive past the letterbox each day.
“Last year our letters business lost $190 million – this is after the benefit of significant efficiency savings.
“It is important that we responsibly address pricing if we are to protect this important service and keep our network of community post offices open.”
