topic Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds. in Selling

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

thegaminggamer — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:20:10 GMT

Let's be honest, separating parcel costs by the 500 gram threshold is far too much. Even the 250 grams threshold (which existed many years ago) was too much, albeit tolerable compared to today's situation.

Charging per 500 grams is how you get ridiculous situations like being charged twice as much for going from 500 to 502 grams. Double the hurt if it's an international parcel.

It's how you get ridiculous situations like it being cheaper to send two large letters for $2 each ($4 total) but if you superglue those two letters together and send it as one, it ends up $7.60.

It's how you get ridiculous situations like it costing the same to post a 20 grams item the size of a golf ball, and a 499 grams item the size of a watermelon, simply because the golf ball is more than than 2cm.

What are the pro-arguments for the current high thresholds? Apart from profits, of course.

Everyone's productivity could be improved greatly if the thresholds were reduced to something manageable like per 100 grams. Sellers don't have to meticulously calculate the postage prices for their items for fear of underquoting (and being overcharged twice the amount by going over the threshold a few grams). Even if a seller underquotes, so what? It's only a few grams over, and the cost is only a few dollars. From eBay's point of view, it would also be a good thing because there would be fewer instances of buyers complaining about high postage due to underquoting. A seller would much prefer to shoulder the underquoting of a few dollars but not if it's something big like $10 (their incorrect quote) and $20 (actual cost).

Everyone's productivity could also be improved greatly if Australia Post didn't change their services and prices every few months. Speaking of prices, aren't some of the international shipping prices weird looking? It costs $23.72 to post a standard parcel to the USA. It costs $20.46 for an economy parcel to the UK. Why $20.46? $20, I can accept. $20.40, ditto. But $20.46? Is the $0.06 so important to Australia Post's bottom line? I would "happily" pay $20.50 if it allows me to memorise the figure. I used to be able to memorise all the parcel prices by heart, whether local or international. But now it's a near impossibility due to the erratic nature of the prices and it's going to change again every 6 months or so anyway.

There is of course merit to changing the sake of efficiency and productivity and whatnot but there is also merit in just staying the same. There are Post Offices in other countries who don't change their prices, for YEARS, let alone every 6 months.

Speaking of efficiency, and effectiveness, and productivity (a CEO's favourite meaningless buzzwords), I don't actually see it. Quite the contrary, I see LESS efficiency and LESS productivity. Such as the intentional withholding and delayment of the delivery of letters in order to justify the "economy" and "standard" pricing options. Not to mention the attempt to remove international large letters as a shipping option before being overturned by consumer backlash. I don't care how you define efficiency, and effectiveness, and productivity and [insert managerial business-speak word here] but to me the end result of those goals should be lower prices and more choices. The reality seems to be higher prices (or similar prices for an inferior product/service) and fewew choice (attempt to remove international large letters). Of course, I realise the actual point of "efficiency" is "profits for the few" but my thesis is based on pretending that this public/private (an entire different debate worth its own thread) hybrid company cares about consumers.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

dazzledayz — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 01:46:57 GMT

I can explain all this to you in a couple of sentences:

1st. Australia Post is being run by a managerial team compised of ex-bankers.

2nd. CEO Mohammed Fahour is ex-NAB and so are 7~8 of his fellow executive board members - either ex-NAB staff, advisers or contractors.

So to synopsize - If it's run by bankers it will be run like a bank and when was the last time your bank lowered its fees?

QED.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

collect247 — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 03:17:10 GMT

I'm with NAB and I don't have any fees

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

casbit33 — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 05:53:19 GMT

same here, I'm with Nab too and no fees.

But I do agree that Aust post should bring back the 250g parcel. It's so annoying when I have to post a pair of earrings that are just over 2cm thick and they have to be posted as a parcel rate for 500g. They weigh less than 100g

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

dazzledayz — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 08:09:50 GMT

Do either of you have a credit card?

A homeloan?

Have you ever converted $AU to another currency?

Have you ever had a transaction declined?

Are your EFTPOS transactions unlimited?

Ever had investment advice?

Insurance?

Although the banks have been getting very cheap money for quite some time none have been interested in reducing credit card fees and when the cheap money stops (and it's heading that way) you just watch what happens to homeloan interest rates.

What sort of interst rates are they ofering on term deposit or account balances?

Just because you don't see any fees listed on your account statement does not mean they are not there.

What I was getting at in my first post was that AP are a logistics compny run with a bankers mindset.

They would rather keep volume low (easy management) and margins high (more profit) while dabbling with sideline services.

Couriers are logistics companies run by logisticians who prefer to keep prices as low as possible while building volume.

eg Couriers Please is owned by Singapore Post and TNT are owned by Japan Post.

I have a CP rates card somewhere from a while ago (within the last year) and the rates were under AP with much more variety.

They would do a local <500g for $5.00

There was also a 1kg about the same $ as an AP 500g (AP tried this for a month over a year ago and it was never repeated - probably gutted the 3kg satchel market would be my guess).

Noone does less than a 500g parcel if they use contracted drivers because the drivers fee per parcel would eat the profit.

AP used to do it when drivers were on wages but they are all contractors now too.

The thing is, even though AP has been corporatised its only "shareholder" is the federal govt.

The sole benefit of govt privatising AP was to arms length themselves from any political backlash over postage rates and services.

Also, rather than put a CEO in place who knew a thing or two about moving things aound the country they chose someone who only knows how to move numbers around a spreadsheet.

And we wonder why service standards are slipping while prices just keep going up?

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

*tippy*toes* — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 08:16:57 GMT

I agree with what you're saying, but I'm mostly commenting to commend you on knowing how to spell ridiculous (there has been a run of people spelling it with an e)

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

dazzledayz — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 09:06:28 GMT

LMAO why thank you Tippie, I'm espeshully gratefull fer that kind commint 🙂

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

lane-ends — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 09:47:24 GMT

A 250gm parcel

~would reduce numbver of people sending things letter that should be parcel. Benefits everyone including AP

~It would allow tracking on these items. Benefits everyone

~It would make the sale of small low cost items more viable, bring more business to AP, rather than them subsidising chinese imports because locals cant afford to ship these same items.

So yes it is dumb not having it. Likewise 1kg bracket

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

transport-posters — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 20:48:11 GMT

I want this price bracket to return also, it would strongly benefit me with sending my posters. I truly miss this cheaper option.

I have written to AP twice since it was removed and they say they understand my frustration but will not make any change.

Posting on this web forum is probably a better idea because of all the discussion it generates, but you should try and write to them also.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

thegaminggamer — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 11:04:34 GMT

I think he was referring to me since I typed rediculous multiple times. I don't see the word rideculous on any other post unless my eyes are bad.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

thegaminggamer — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 11:07:58 GMT

@lane-ends wrote:

So yes it is dumb not having it. Likewise 1kg bracket

They had the 1kg for $10 offer a while back.

The 500+ gram parcel rules are quite annoying and complicated (+$/kg depending on state, cubing issues) but I'll grant them that since Australia is a big country.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

thegaminggamer — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 11:17:11 GMT

@dazzledayz wrote:
I can explain all this to you in a couple of sentences:

1st. Australia Post is being run by a managerial team compised of ex-bankers.

2nd. CEO Mohammed Fahour is ex-NAB and so are 7~8 of his fellow executive board members - either ex-NAB staff, advisers or contractors.

So to synopsize - If it's run by bankers it will be run like a bank and when was the last time your bank lowered its fees?

QED.

There are a few banks out there that appear to pass on savings to their customers sometimes but I take your point.

I didn't know they were all ex-NAB though. Meritocracy? Or just jobs for the old boys club? Isn't the CEO of the highest paid or one of the highest paid managers (public or private) in Australia? Even more than the PM?

Cus I dunno, seems to me they're not getting their money's worth. Any monkey can do things like cut staff or increase prices (above inflation level) but it takes a true innovator to make profits without using those old strategies.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

justkidzbiz — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 12:15:21 GMT

Yep totally agree, but....

AP are raking in huge increased profits since dumping the 250gm parcel rate and for that reason I can't see them bringing it back 😡

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

*tippy*toes* — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 14:41:48 GMT

@thegaminggamer wrote:
@lane-ends wrote:

So yes it is dumb not having it. Likewise 1kg bracket
They had the 1kg for $10 offer a while back.

The 500+ gram parcel rules are quite annoying and complicated (+$/kg depending on state, cubing issues) but I'll grant them that since Australia is a big country.

I think if you're posting inside your own state there is kind of a 500g-1kg rate, but not advertised as such, at $11.35. Interstate it's far cheaper to use a 3kg satchel if it will fit in (I box my items then put in a satchel). From NSW to WA, it's cheaper to even use a 5kg satchel if it's a bit large for a 3kg, than posting a 700g item as a parcel.

Again from NSW to WA, it's cheaper to send a 700g item in an express 3kg satchel than it is to post as a regular parcel. $15.65 in an express 3kg satchel compared to $19.30 for a normal slow rate parcel. It makes no sense!

Given that I rarely post anything over 500g, I'm only paying the same regardless of where it's going in the country. A lot of my items are under 250g, so I for one would like to see that rate come back. Sadly, it will never happen.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

heihachi_73 — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 03:45:55 GMT

As a game seller I know all too much about being stung for Parcel Post costs on items which would fall under a media category in numerous other countries, just because the disc cases are slightly thicker than what Australia Post defines as a large letter once packed (e.g. a PlayStation 1 game in the normal fat case ends up being 23mm thick when packed inside a bubble mailer, and I will never use an unprotected envelope or tough bag unless the buyer specifically ordered a jewel case in 1000 pieces). Australia Post's prices are also why I have to buy a lot of older games from the UK and Europe, simply because it's cheaper to pay the international large letter rate than a parcel rate for an identical item here. In some cases, I can have a PS1 game sent from the UK to here for around £4, and to send an identical game back to the UK it was $18! A large letter to the UK is/was $8. Of course, it doesn't help when you also have clueless sellers in Australia who charge $8+ (prepaid 500g satchel) to send a game which would otherwise go for $2 or $3, but that's their loss (no sale), especially if the game isn't even worth $8 to begin with. The other Australia Post scam is of course the 50c priority labels, charging the public extra in order to provide nothing more than a regular old Monday to Friday mail delivery service. Nope, not even Saturday delivery, which Express Post has had for a couple of years now.

I have been wishing for a 0-250g parcel rate for years, just like I have been wishing for the post offices to actually bother opening on Saturdays and Sundays so I can actually send things on those days - the few post offices that do open Saturdays - and only to 12 or 1PM at that - doesn't cut it (the thing about AP and ex-bankers is also interesting, considering they have the same useless "bank" hours and take every single "bank" holiday off). The joke with Australia Post is, they are shifting mail delivery from the public/government-run system (Australian Postal Corporation) to a privately owned for-profit parcel delivery/courier company (Australia Post) by getting people to pay parcel rates for regular mail. No wonder the mail system is running at a loss when almost everything has to go as a parcel, media or not (even paper, for those stuck in the 1950s thinking that all media is printed entirely on paper as opposed to SD cards, USB drives, Wii Optical Discs and anything else) simply because of an arbitrary depth limit of 2 centimetres. Which I might add is 2.54cm (1 inch) over in England.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

slau123 — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 04:51:09 GMT

I look at it this way. You can buy $1.00 item (including postage) from ebay seller in China or HongKong. But seller in Australia can never deliver item for $1.00 to overseas destination. How can they do it so cheap? We need a senate enquiry on Aust post fee & charges. They are inhibiting online business growth.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

dazzledayz — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 10:13:35 GMT

I think if you're posting inside your own state there is kind of a 500g-1kg rate, but not advertised as such, at $11.35. Interstate it's far cheaper to use a 3kg satchel if it will fit in (I box my items then put in a satchel). From NSW to WA, it's cheaper to even use a 5kg satchel if it's a bit large for a 3kg, than posting a 700g item as a parcel.

Again from NSW to WA, it's cheaper to send a 700g item in an express 3kg satchel than it is to post as a regular parcel. $15.65 in an express 3kg satchel compared to $19.30 for a normal slow rate parcel. It makes no sense!

Given that I rarely post anything over 500g, I'm only paying the same regardless of where it's going in the country. A lot of my items are under 250g, so I for one would like to see that rate come back. Sadly, it will never happen.

My understanding of the way AP works out the distance rates is based on their zones.

Adjacent Zones have a concessional rate for larger parcels but this reduces to minimal if your parcel jumps a zone ie Q1 to Q3.

It is also weight/size dependent so you should consult the AP online calculator or the PDF rate document.

After a very short distance flat rate satchels will work out cheaper.

There are a couple of cheap options which you should use when possible:

1. Same zone - $10.05 flat >500g up to 22kg

2. Interzone 50km rate - ditto

This one is a bit tricky but works like this - if your parcel is going into an adjacent zone and the customers delivery centre is within 50km of the originating PO then the same zone rate applies ie $10.05 flat for up to 22kg.

Most PO's should be aware of this by now but some LPO's may try to screw you or inexperienced staff may not even know about it.

Regarding the 250g parcel I should point out a couple of reasons why it can never make a comeback:

1. Contract delivery drivers (that's all AP parcel drivers) are paid $2.00 for each parcel they deliver and this is their only income.

You can see how delivery cost would soon overtake profits if 250g was less th about $5.00

2. In their infinite wisdom AP design criteria for high speed letter sorting equipment set the max thickness at 20mm - go figure.

However (and it's a big however) small parcel delivery is usually by ordinary postie so no $2.00 per.

Unfortunately, AP account for ALL parcels in the same way so even though the delivery cost is -$2 the accounting will read as +$2.

Remember I mentioned earlier that AP management was pretty good at speadsheets?

*ankers - you fill in the missing letter as you see fit.

They used this method of mendacious accounting when arguing for the letter rate rises.

They never told the ACCC that a goodly number of those parcels they make so much money from should actually share profit with the letter stream.

Good honest folk that AP management are it was probably just an oversight though so no fault no foul right?

As for the apparently cheap cost of sending a parcel from UK to Aus - Royal Mail apparently organized a good deal for bulk air cargo - a neat trick that AP seem incapable of doing but then they're not very good at logistics or volume it would appear.

With regard the cheap cost of mail out of China - that's Chinese govt subsidy at work which we could deal with in one of at least 2 ways:

1. Our own anti-dumping legisaltion (political will needed here)

2. Our abstention from the UPU termnal dues agreement along with NZ and Canada - we all reserved the right to charge for local delivery but never acted on it (more political will needed).

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

davewil1964 — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 11:08:01 GMT

I don't know how you access the local rates. I just did a check with AP's price calculator, from one side of Canberra to the other, and got $11.45 for a 1kg parcel, and $14.15 for 3kg.

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

dazzledayz — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 22:34:53 GMT

@davewil1964 wrote:
I don't know how you access the local rates. I just did a check with AP's price calculator, from one side of Canberra to the other, and got $11.45 for a 1kg parcel, and $14.15 for 3kg.

Dave it looks like the cheap flat rate is not available to you locally in Canberra (N2), only in N1 zone - Sydney.

You will have to talk to your postmaster at the nearest Business Centre (NOT an LPO) about accessing the 50km rate I mentioned above - there is a checkbox or button on their POS screen which needs to be used for the 50km rates to be accessed.

They provide this so localish country parcel post can access the same rate structure as capital cities.

Check out the Parcel Post Guides at:

Parcel Guides

Here's what mine looks like for Brisbane:

Re: A Rant Regarding Australia Post - Bring Back Smaller Thresholds.

davewil1964 — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 23:50:31 GMT

Thanks.

Typical AP con job. It's cheaper to send parcels from Canberra to Sydney than Canberra to Canberra. It would seem because they lump the ACT in with all of NSW that isn't Sydney.