Auspost "two speed rate" shonky and badly thought out .. (RANT)

[x3n0m]

The Auspost CEO (Ahmed Fahour) is currently lobbying the federal government to approve a two speed rate on domestic letter articles .. the preposition is that Auspost letter deliveries are not profitable for auspost and the proposal before government is for auspost to impose a premium rate to continue to deliver letter items at their current glacially slow rate; an increase of over 40% from 70cent per stamp to $1 per stamp for a continuation of the current choppy haphazard service .. to appease government the hypnotically convincing CEO suggests to maintain a 70cent rate (the current cost) but that will be regarded as a non premium (slow service) and the intention is that auspost will deliberatety delay those letter items by 3 days to a week thus rendering the service on that lower rate as third class .. the proposal is this two speed system will be run concurrently with Ausposts express post service which also has a letter rate ..

obviously this proposal/proposition by the auppost CEO is devious and counter productive as the postie will obviously be delivering mail on a daily basis as they always have but will be deliberately slowing the letter delivery of those who choose not to pay the additional 40% premium rate .. this double standard double shuffle is supposedly meant to deliver auspost a windfall and the Auspost principles and contractors have already been brainwashed to embrace and spruik this diabolically contrived system as are being starved for revenue by their CEO and the promise is that they will all be flush with cash when this contrived double shuffle swindle comes to fruition in September of 2015. The aupost employees really have no idea of the pain this will bring them in reduced sales and takeup of the higher rates just like when auspost incresed registered postage costs all the way from beneath $2 to the current wildlly complicated system (which averages about $3.95 per single item) without actually increasing the insurance rate (another bogus money-grab) and the current cost of a money order which hovers around $8 is obviously unpallatable in the extreme and is basically a dead product due to the extravagent pricing .. those are just 2 examples and there is more dead products in the works .. obviously the use of those auspost products has reduced to subnormally low levels and I indicate my belief is that price hikes of this kind will actually further damage to Aupsosts revenues .. like what is wrong withg simply increasing the price of a stamp by 5-10 cents or indexing to the Australian inflation rate .. a two speed system is just sloppy and being so badly thought out will in all liklihood actually further damage this very important public utility .. I believe that the intention is to cripple auspost so our giovernment is forced to accept lobbyist proposals to break up or sell off auspost to the highest bidder ..

This same CEO has also apparetly been loobying government to split auspost up and sell parts off and at one point there was a proposal before government to sell the whole business off thus fully privatising it .. the rumour mill went crazy when ebay apparently put in a 1 Billion dollar bid to buy Auspost in its entirity which was considered a lowball offer and thankfully rejected .. the fact that auspost (the countries largest carrier) is now running a secondary internal/external seperate business called "startrack express" further complicates and muddies the waters of where the money is going and call me cynical but this just looks to me like transferal of revenue and tax dodging and profiteering and a sneaky way of breaking up the company as obviously startrack express is a new auspost product which can be spun off and its expensive aquistion coincides with a radical dropoff in profits for aupost which the ceo is blaming on letter delivery which lets face it if auspost can't do that efficiently in this modern age of robots and letter sorting and automation then one must ask what is going on? .. aupsost only recently completed 100% aquistion of startrack express when they bought out qantas of their 50% share in this oddball company ..

to make matters worse as ausposts revenues plummet the Auspost CEO regularly gets his wages increased via some type of inverse performance paramaters and this glorified public servant who is known to announce radical restructures and intentions first to the American chamber of commerce (who is his real boss?) before even aupost employees hear of the upcoming changes and is now remunerated at 4 Milion Dollars per annum from $1 million per annum 10 years back which to put it into perspective his new pay rate is 4 times the pay rate of the $1 Million per annum we pay the Australian Prime Minister .. what do you think? Does Auspost and their CEO smell like roses or is it just more corporate stink?

[justajunk]

---

@x3n0m wrote:

maintain a 70cent rate (the current cost) but that will be regarded as a non premium (slow service) and the intention is that auspost will deliberatety delay those letter items by 3 days to a week thus rendering the service on that lower rate as third class 

---

Interesting. I was listening to a radio interview a couple of months ago on the issue, and I believe the idea was floated that "slow service" would be $1.00 and "premium service" $1.50 (i.e. more than double the current cost for the current service).

An increase from $0.70 to $1.00 isn't that bad if the service isn't slowed down - but I was under the impression that $1.00 was going to be super-slow...

[phorum_junkie*]

exactly $5 for a large letter over 250grams

The example I gave was for a large letter up to 250g so my point still stands.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

http://www.royalmail.com/price-finder?intcampaignid=Promo_country_olp

large letter 750 grams from GB to Aus

84 days delivery aim Up to £20 for loss or damage Not Tracked £6.53*

up to 750g large letter from Aus to GB ???

http://auspost.com.au/apps/international-parcel.html?searchCriteria.countryCode=IE

sea mail up to 1 kg $20.45

[colic2bullsgirlore]

“All we’ve heard for five years is a person (Mr Fahour)  talking about the terminal decline of mail – it’s like the head of Maccas (McDonalds) saying beef burgers are bad for you.

Mr Healey says he wonders if there where other ways to plug the financial hole.

“You’ve got to ask yourself when someone is on about $4.5 million per year, should they continue to be rewarded when the organisation is running supposedly in a ‘crisis’,” Mr Healey says.

“You can point your finger at external factors as much as you like, but when you’re getting paid that much money, you have to take the community with you.

“Particularly when you’re a government agency.”

Senators expressed concern at Tuesday’s meeting that Australia Post was doing a poor job of engaging the stakeholders – including franchisees, licensed post offices, business, unions and others – on the future of mail delivery as its letters service goes into “terminal decline”, as Mr Fahour himself described it, The Mandarin reports.

Senator Anne Ruston, chair of the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, said she and other politicians had received a large amount of correspondence from stakeholders complaining about the process.

“I can only say that we are trying to help you, Mr Fahour, and your resistance to it is astounding,” Ms Ruston said.

[colic2bullsgirlore]

The US imposed a surcharge in just one weekend for all mail entering their country. Regardless of the reason the surcharge was imposed why can australia post not do the same....regardless of the UPU.

The US did.... they just said up your nose with a rubber hose...pay at the counter or do not send tyour parcel

...it's that simple..... AP lost 30 million on incoming international parcels.

Happy for other counttries to do te same for our parcels...... Faaaarck ther UPU I say user sghould pay.... not be subsidized

by others

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/growth/economy/26034-auspost-losing--70-million-a-year-on-internation...

[x3n0m]

"You pulled figures out of your anatomy "

really? .. as I said Davewill if your figures are correct then the situation is even wose than I outlined, I was apparently wrong with the auspost CEOs pay-rate too .. he apparently earns an additional $500,000 this year (4.5 Million Dollars AU) so my stats are a little sloppy but were definitely not overstated or exagerated perhaps consider that .. and if you could perhaps point me to the current payrate for elected officials I would also be interested .. I don't feel like doing research today but point out you are quoting last years payrates and they do not include allowances and other entitlements etc so perhaps I was looking at the total paypacket after allowances and entitlements and accept the PMs base rate is approximately $500,000 for last year but would like to see all the current figures myself and cannot find up to date ones and totals for all allowances (eg Travel and accomodation allowance which I believe are very very generous and if memory serves me non taxable income .. ) which may be what I quoted which could quite possibly bring the total to my aforementioned $1million dollar mark .. which would mean that I am in fact correct and you are in fact wrong .. do you understand that his base payrate is not his total pay-packet? or not?

and this
"My advice, which you will doubtless ignore, is to not use eBay or AP."

That is what is going to happen when they price themselves out of the market via their disruptive innovation programs .. perhaps all done by design .. so will have no choice in the matter .. and I will be ignoring your advice so you are at least correct on that point ..

and PJ

"The example I gave was for a large letter up to 250g so my point still stands."

And hopefully PJ my point about standard letter rate is not what you call 1st class rate in the UK “stands” .. that service is roundly equivalent to the Australian express post service which is stonkingly more expensive in Australia than in england etc

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/first-class-letters

and I will quote from the link I have provided  (cause I know people are lazy and may not bother to do minimal fact checking) ..


Everyone loves to receive a letter and keeping in touch couldn’t be easier with 1st Class
Key Benefits

    Easy to use, reliable with quality delivery in the UK
    1st Class aims to deliver the next working day, including Saturday
    Prices start at just 63p

You can also benefit from:

    Compensation of up to £20
    A free certificate of postage - just ask at the counter

Size and Weight limits
      Maximum
Weight     Maximum
Length     Maximum
Width     Maximum
Thickness
Letter     100g     240mm     165mm     5mm
Large Letter     750g     353mm     250mm     25mm

Find out more about sending a parcel with 1st Class.
Prices
      Weight     Price
Letter     0-100g     63p
Large Letter     0-100g     95p
101-250g     £1.26
251-500g     £1.68
501-750g     £2.42
Need confirmation of delivery?

Choose Royal Mail Signed For® 1st Class for confirmation of delivery including signature - perfect for online sellers.
What if my item gets lost or damaged?

1st Class has excellent quality of service, but for the rare occasions that something goes wrong, 1st class includes compensation up to £20. Learn more by visiting the Royal Mail Help and Support pagesOpens in new window. To make a claim, fill in a P58 form – you can pick this up from your local Post Office®. Claims are normally processed within two to four weeks. If your claim relates to damage, you may be asked to provide evidence of posting and value.

So if you  care to do a little cross referencing factcheck PJ you may find that the prices we are currently paying in Australia for express postage are like 5 times higher than in england!! for the equivelent service .. so it looks like you are exaggerating .. or perhaps mistaken and what is paid is england for 1st class mail is approximately what we pay in Australia for standard old letter rate .. If you would like to compare the Royal Mail 1st class rate with what we pay in Australia for express postage perhaps educate yourself and look here:

http://shop.auspost.com.au/pack-post/express-post/prepaid-envelope/SortingAttribute-name-desc

[x3n0m]

You pulled figures out of your anatomy

really? .. Davewill I will repeat for you that if your figures are correct then the situation is even wose than I outlined, I was apparently wrong with the auspost CEOs pay-rate too .. he apparently gets paid an additional $500,000 this year (4.5 Million Dollars AU) so my stats are a little sloppy but were definitely not overstated or exaggerated perhaps consider that .. and if you could point me to the current 2015 payrates for elected officials I would also be interested .. I concede that the PMs base rate appears around half Million AU as you mentioned but point out you are quoting last years payrates and they do not include allowances and other entitlements etc .. you may find that the PM does earn approximately $1mill after ALL of his very very generous allowances (not just electoral allowance) and entitlements are factored in to his total paypacket .. you do realise the PMs total income includes all allowances (and entitlements) not just electoral allowance? as you mentioned in an earlier post .. So when they are factored in you will probably be embarrassed to find that I am correct and you are wrong ..

My advice, which you will doubtless ignore, is to not use eBay or AP.

That is what is going to happen when they price themselves out of the market via their disruptive innovation programs .. perhaps all done by design .. so will have no choice in the matter .. I won’t be taking your advice so you are at least correct on that point ..

and PJ

The example I gave was for a large letter up to 250g so my point still stands.

And hopefully my point about standard letter rate is not what you call 1st class rate in the UK “stands” .. that service is roundly equivalent to the Australian express post service which is stonkingly more expensive in Australia than in england etc

http://www.postoffice.co.uk/first-class-letters

and I quote (cause I know people are lazy and may not bother to do minimal fact checking) ..

Everyone loves to receive a letter and keeping in touch couldn’t be easier with 1st Class

Key Benefits

   Easy to use, reliable with quality delivery in the UK

   1st Class aims to deliver the next working day, including Saturday

   Prices start at just 63p

You can also benefit from:

   Compensation of up to £20

   A free certificate of postage - just ask at the counter

Size and Weight limits

            Maximum

Weight             Maximum

Length             Maximum

Width             Maximum

Thickness

Letter   100g             240mm             165mm             5mm

Large Letter             750g             353mm             250mm             25mm

Find out more about sending a parcel with 1st Class.

Prices

          Weight             Price

Letter   0-100g             63p

Large Letter             0-100g             95p

101-250g             £1.26

251-500g             £1.68

501-750g             £2.42

Need confirmation of delivery?

Choose Royal Mail Signed For® 1st Class for confirmation of delivery including signature - perfect for online sellers.

What if my item gets lost or damaged?

1st Class has excellent quality of service, but for the rare occasions that something goes wrong, 1st class includes compensation up to £20. Learn more by visiting the Royal Mail Help and Support pagesOpens in new window. To make a claim, fill in a P58 form – you can pick this up from your local Post Office®. Claims are normally processed within two to four weeks. If your claim relates to damage, you may be asked to provide evidence of posting and value.

So if you care to do a little factcheck PJ you may find that the prices we are currently paying in Australia for express postage is approximately 4-5 times higher than in england!! .. so it looks like you are exaggerating .. or perhaps mistaken.. What you call 1st class rate in England will be approximately what Australians may be paying for the current standard letter rate service in Australia after September 2015 if the auspost CEO gets to have his way with us .. If you would like to compare the Royal Mail 1st class rate with what we pay in Australia for express postage perhaps educate yourself and look here:

http://shop.auspost.com.au/pack-post/express-post/prepaid-envelope/SortingAttribute-name-desc

[x3n0m]

"You pulled figures out of your anatomy"

really? .. Davewill I will repeat for you that if your figures are correct then the situation is even wose than I outlined, I was apparently wrong with the auspost CEOs pay-rate too .. he apparently gets paid an additional $500,000 this year (4.5 Million Dollars AU) so my stats are a little sloppy but were definitely not overstated or exaggerated perhaps consider that .. and if you could point me to the current 2015 payrates for elected officials I would also be interested .. I concede that the PMs base rate appears around half Million AU as you mentioned but point out you are quoting last years payrates and they do not include allowances and other entitlements etc .. you may find that the PM does earn approximately $1mill after ALL of his very very generous allowances (not just electoral allowance) and entitlements are factored in to his total paypacket .. you do realise the PMs total income includes all allowances (and entitlements) not just electoral allowance? as you mentioned in an earlier post .. So when they are factored in you will probably be embarrassed to find that I am correct and you are wrong ..

 
"My advice, which you will doubtless ignore, is to not use eBay or AP".

 That is what is going to happen when they price themselves out of the market via their disruptive innovation programs .. perhaps all done by design .. so will have no choice in the matter .. I won’t be taking your advice so you are at least correct on that point ..

 

[x3n0m]

"The example I gave was for a large letter up to 250g so my point still stands."

Hopefully Phorum Junkie my point about standard letter rate is not what you call 1st class rate in the UK “stands” .. that service you are comparing to Ausposts standard letter rate is roundly equivalent to the Australian express post service which is stonkingly more expensive in Australia than in england etc

 
http://www.postoffice.co.uk/first-class-letters

 
and I quote below (cause I know people are lazy and may not bother to do minimal fact checking) ..


Everyone loves to receive a letter and keeping in touch couldn’t be easier with 1st Class

Key Benefits
   Easy to use, reliable with quality delivery in the UK
   1st Class aims to deliver the next working day, including Saturday
   Prices start at just 63p


You can also benefit from:

   Compensation of up to £20
   A free certificate of postage - just ask at the counter

 Size and Weight limits
            Maximum

Weight             Maximum
Length             Maximum
Width             Maximum

Thickness
Letter   100g             240mm             165mm             5mm
Large Letter             750g             353mm             250mm             25mm

 Find out more about sending a parcel with 1st Class.

Prices
          Weight             Price
Letter   0-100g             63p
Large Letter             0-100g             95p
101-250g             £1.26
251-500g             £1.68
501-750g             £2.42

Need confirmation of delivery?

Choose Royal Mail Signed For® 1st Class for confirmation of delivery including signature - perfect for online sellers.

What if my item gets lost or damaged?

 1st Class has excellent quality of service, but for the rare occasions that something goes wrong, 1st class includes compensation up to £20. Learn more by visiting the Royal Mail Help and Support pagesOpens in new window. To make a claim, fill in a P58 form – you can pick this up from your local Post Office®. Claims are normally processed within two to four weeks. If your claim relates to damage, you may be asked to provide evidence of posting and value.


 So if you care to do a little factcheck PJ you may find that the prices we are currently paying in Australia for express postage is approximately 4-5 times higher than in england!! .. so it looks like you are exaggerating .. or perhaps mistaken.. What you call 1st class rate in England will be approximately what Australians may be paying for the current standard letter rate service in Australia after September 2015 if the auspost CEO gets to have his way with us .. If you would like to compare the Royal Mail 1st class rate with what we pay in Australia for express postage rate educate yourself and look here:

http://shop.auspost.com.au/pack-post/express-post/prepaid-envelope/SortingAttribute-name-desc

[x3n0m]

"The example I gave was for a large letter up to 250g so my point still stands."

Hopefully Phorum Junkie my point about standard letter rate is not what you call 1st class rate in the UK “stands” .. that service you are comparing to Ausposts standard letter rate is roundly equivalent to the Australian express post service which is stonkingly more expensive in Australia than in england etc

 
http://www.postoffice.co.uk/first-class-letters

 So if you care to do a little factcheck PJ you will find that the prices we are currently paying in Australia for express postage is approximately 4-5 times higher than in england!! .. so it looks like you are exaggerating .. or perhaps mistaken.. What you call 1st class rate in England will be approximately what Australians may be paying for the current standard letter rate service in Australia after September 2015 if the auspost CEO gets to have his way with us .. If you would like to compare the Royal Mail 1st class rate with what we pay in Australia for express postage rate please educate yourself and look here:

http://shop.auspost.com.au/pack-post/express-post/prepaid-envelope/SortingAttribute-name-desc