topic Re: Australia Post international postage big changes in Selling

Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 10:35:22 GMT

Apparently, Australia Post are going to bring in some significant changes to international postage towards the end of the month but I havent seen anything in print yet. Has anyone here heard of the changes - eg Pack and Track under a new name, etc

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

digital*ghost — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 10:48:00 GMT

I have some limited info, courtesy of my local PO, the AP announcements, and a fellow seller.

The new services (for parcels via airmail) will be economy and standard. Economy doesn't have tracking, standard does, and you can add SOD / insurance to it.

Express international has come down in pricing , economy / standard seems to have gone up. For example, this evening I saw the price for a 500g standard (tracked) satchel to the US, which was $23.72 (the nearest current equivalent is a 500g Pack & Track parcel, current price $21.10).

What I don't know is whether own-packaging will be the same as that price, or if that is the unit price of an AP satchel when bought in bulk so that you get a discount. I suspect it might be, because $23.72 is unusual for a full price single product from Australia Post, and if that has the maximum 10% bulk-purchase discount applied to it, the single, retail over the counter price of a standard 500g satchel to the US would actually be $26.35 (before anyone panics, this is pure speculation on my part based solely on me finding $23.72 an odd price).

I saw a 500g express satchel to the US was about $42 or so, previously close to $60 I think, not 100% sure on those as I was mainly interested in the regular tracked pricing.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:06:43 GMT

One Post Office said it would be starting on April 18th, another at the end of the month. The person I spoke to this morning said that they were moving towards classes (like Britain) eg first class, second class, etc.for international postage.

If they are going to make changes like this they should give everyone plenty of notice.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

digital*ghost — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 11:24:13 GMT

These changes are definitely being implemented on the 18th - I'm pretty disappointed in the lack of notice, too, or lack of information to be more specific, especially considering not even AP staff can answer some of the most fundamental questions at the moment (pricing). I've asked my PO to save me a copy of the booklet as soon as they get one, but presumably most (if not all) POs will have them around the same time.

A couple of things that I forgot to mention is that customs forms are also changing (the green CN22 forms can still be used on letters, plus economy - non-tracked - parcels). They're also larger, about A5 size, and you'll need to affix barcode labels to them according to the service that will be used.

Economy, although it will still be air mail, will be slower than standard as well. (Standard is being quoted as 6+ business days, economy as 10+ business days).

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

photo-video-accessories-pty-ltd-australia — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 16:09:15 GMT

I received the new form and stickers from my local PO yesterday. Only one form now which is used for all international services. Stickers are multipart and have one for the type of service (eg Express, Economy etc) which goes in a designated spot on the front of the form and a barcode which goes in a spot beside it - also 2 more smaller barcodes which go on the flaps of the pull-out copies of the form.

It starts on 18 April as we have been told we need to update our webstore which uses the AusPost pricing interface by then.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 20:33:11 GMT

Thanks for the information. I'm guessing that there will be an increase in prices. I have an Account Manager with Aust Post but havent heard a word about this as yet.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

jfmgray — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 03:34:41 GMT

I got the booklet from my post office just now. Starts on 18 April and parcel prices for most locations and weight increase. For example, an up to 500 gram parcel to USA increases from $14.10 to $15.85 for the 'economy' international parcel post (10+ business days). One form to replace the CN. No mention of prices however for large letters.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

transport-posters — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 04:25:00 GMT

Damn, that's a bit of a jump in the price.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

transport-posters — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 05:22:56 GMT

Here's the new customs form. Looks like we have to put the receiver's full details on the form also.

Previously I just had to put my full details on the old green slips.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 10:17:00 GMT

That new customs form looks like it could be too big for some packages.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 10:19:23 GMT

Does anyone have a link to how the new international package rates will apply. Surely Australia Post would be making some sort of announcement about it.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

transport-posters — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 13:19:30 GMT

From what I understand, we put all the info into this form and then stick the barcode sticker from it onto the parcel which relates to the service we want to use to send the parcel. So the form stays with the PO, the barcode from it is what links it to the parcel. So the parcel will have the barcode sticker matching the form. I think...

They told me to look on the website to find out more info but I cannot find a thing! This is really bad... it's not far away and it looks like a big change in how we should prepare our docs for sending stuff. I don't know what to do come April 18... and they didn't know what I should do either.

I think I will just have to bring all my parcels in on the day with no customs declarations or stickers and spend an hour working it all out with them at the counter! They also can't supply me with a pack of forms or stickers for several weeks, as AP doesn't have enough stock printed to sent to PO's to then pass on to regulars like me.

A little fact that some may not know is that they don't really do anything with the current green international slips which we give them. They just staple them together and file them away in case of an issue which might crop up with one of the parcels. It's just the sticker part which is important. I even once forgot to bring in the detached slips and they said don't worry. They are probably moving to this system to also increase security, efficiency and tracking.

Just wish it was cheaper since we will have to do more work to send our parcels and they are doing this also to reduce the amount of different forms that we use currently.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 23:26:00 GMT

I have a contract with Australia Post and have no idea how this will affect ELMS statements, lodgements, etc. Presumably they will have to provide a new contract altogether as the current one specifies prices for Pack and Track etc.

Not impressed.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

digital*ghost — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 05:36:08 GMT

Ya gotta love how AP are making sure their customers are aware of all the important info....

I logged into C&S today, and there was an announcement with a link to further info, so I clicked it and scanned for info on pricing.

Towards the end, they have an expandable FAQs list, the first one is, What are the prices of the new products?

AP's "answer" (to their own, very specific, question mind you) :

There are no changes to our international letter pricing, however the pricing for our international parcel options is changing in line with the introduction of our new simplified product set.

From 18 April, we will structure our prices around 4 new speed-based parcels services – Courier, Express, Standard and Economy – for 9 international zones.

Our new international parcels products will completely replace our existing product set, with associated changes to the included and add-on features. When combined with international zone changes, pricing comparisons can only be presented as averages.

Under the new pricing structure, it will be cheaper to send some international parcels to select international locations – for example, our International Post Express services are reducing in price while some other services may see minor price increases. The average price increase across all our international speed-based services is 2%.

Not one price mentioned, no link to a full table, nothing.

The zone changes they mention is referring to the introduction of an extra zone (I think there's 4 now, so there'll be 5).

They also mention dropping off packages in street boxes, so it actually sounds like since you don't need to present ID to lodge, you can just drop off packages rather than getting AP to process each one. My PO will be relieved if I can just whack my OS letters in the red box.

https://auspost.com.au/sendoverseas

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 06:07:06 GMT

So, you can't pick up the customs forms until 18th April. Anything not pre paid has to include the new customs forms. If you are mailing on the 18th April that makes it difficult, particularly for high volume sellers with a contract who need to be prepared in advance. I bet it will be hard to get the customs forms in time.

I didnt see anything about sellers who use their own packaging.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

davidc4430 — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 06:11:02 GMT

no change to letter pricing, well they have allready raised those and admitted its letter area is falling away.

so they know theres growth in parcels so they will slug us there.

but remember, AP loves delivering

price rises that is

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 06:13:16 GMT

@digital*ghost wrote:
Ya gotta love how AP are making sure their customers are aware of all the important info....

The zone changes they mention is referring to the introduction of an extra zone (I think there's 4 now, so there'll be 5).

There are currently 8 zones for international post. Having a lot of different zones is just a sneaky way of increasing charges, particularly for sellers who send multiple packages to different countries.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

moviemem — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 06:17:12 GMT

@digital*ghost wrote:

They also mention dropping off packages in street boxes, so it actually sounds like since you don't need to present ID to lodge, you can just drop off packages rather than getting AP to process each one. My PO will be relieved if I can just whack my OS letters in the red box.

I wouldnt suggest dropping items off in the red box. There is no proof of lodgement that way. They fail to scan many packages as it is so you would just be dropping it off and hoping that it shows up as being lodged.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

digital*ghost — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 07:00:52 GMT

@moviemem wrote:
I wouldnt suggest dropping items off in the red box. There is no proof of lodgement that way. They fail to scan many packages as it is so you would just be dropping it off and hoping that it shows up as being lodged.

I don't get any proof of post with letter anyway, unfortunately, it's just an AP requirement that all international non-document packages (letters or parcels) are lodged in person over the counter so they can record the ID (which they don't do for me anyway, they just use the "known to staff" option). Sometimes I can be at the counter for quite a while, depending on how many international letters I have, so even when they're a little quieter it can cause the waiting line to back up a bit.

It'll be interesting to see if any of the non-trackable barcodes will actually be tracked in the destination countries, though.

Re: Australia Post international postage big changes

queenslander-1 — Sat, 09 Apr 2016 07:40:04 GMT

I know registered mail is untrackable according to Aust Post but if sending to Canada on Canada Post you can track and on the USA site trackable once it gets to the US.