Australia Post Pricing Logic

[thegaminggamer]

I'm sure if you're a long time seller, you've come across this before. I don't usually send heavy parcels (most items are under 500 grams) so when I needed to send a 1KG parcel to the United States, I thought to myself, well I already know a parcel 500 grams or under is $15.85, so I imagine the next threshold would be a little bit less than twice the first threshold. $15.85 x 2 is $31.70 so I guessed $28, or $29, maybe even $30.

Then I got a nasty surprise: a single 1 KG parcel to USA is $33.38 but if you post two 500 gram parcels, it is $31.70 which is cheaper. I had to double check with the Post Office worker because that didn't make sense to me. My question to you is, where is the logic? It takes more time and labour to deliver 2 parcels than 1 parcel and the prices should reflect as such.

I'm sure it wasn't always like this. Back when parcel posting prices used to only end in $xx.x0 or $xx.x5s, the threshold prices made more sense. I think the prices only became illogical when Australia Post started using nonsensical numbers like $33.38 (why not $33.35? why not $33.40?)

Here's another case of nonsensical Australia Post price logic: let's say you're sending a thin book that weighs 300 grams to USA again. This thin book is 2cm thick so it qualifies for "cheaper" large letter pricing so we can post it for $18. Wait a minute. Posting this as a standard parcel (with no size limitation) is $15.85 so why on earth would I post as a large letter when it is more expensive AND I don't have room to add protection like bubble wrap?

I think I know what the inherent problem is: Australia Post changes prices and changes services and changes rules and changes other stuff far too frequently. There's no cohesive logic that brings Australia Post's prices and services together as a whole. It's like watching a 2 hour horror movie that has 20 straight minutes of comedy (with no horror). It doesn't make sense. Or cooking a vegetarian dish for your vegan friend, and this dish has bits of meat in sprinkled in one corner. It doesn't make sense.

There are countries that have the same parcel post prices for years and years. Ours change every 6 months. Just when we've memorised all the prices (local and international), it changes again. I'm not saying that Australia Post has to run at a loss and keep the prices the same for a decade. All I'm asking for is a bit of logic when it comes to prices. More lenient thresholds would be fine too.

[kitschkoven]

Exactly, how are they losing money when so many people are buying things online.

I've been selling a few things on here lately (hallelujah) but I have noticed that postage is just as expensive as (if not more than) the items. I'm sure it's stopping people from buying more.

[lyndal1838]

How would I know why they are losing money on the letter post service?

I only do what anyone can do......read the financial pages in the newspapers.

[davewil1964]

They aren't losing money.

They are losing money on letter post, allegedly. The fact that they don't count the 'small' parcels they get their employees to deliver might have something to do with that.

They are making plenty out of parcel post, which is what the vast majority of online purchases would be using.

[wide-world-of-stamps]

Yes, & when a large letter size item is left on the top of the letterboxes in a block of units & goes missing, guess who has to refund the buyer.

As most of our items are letters/large letters, we always worry when the buyer lives in a block of units. Most arrive, but when they don't, we just refund without an argument. Luckily, a few have arrived later & the buyer has let us know & paid again.

[woodduck*2012]

Let me try and shed some light on the Au post thing, this is what i have been told.

After speaking with two Au post franchisees regarding postal costs and who pays for the chinese postal deliveries (online buying) to be delivered by an Au Postie to my door.

The answer i have received from both post offices is quite shocking in that the Australian Government Subsidises  chinese postage in Australia as part of a trade deal and that Au post is payed letter value only for every chinese parcel they deliver, thats $1-$3 people, thats hundreds of thousands of chinese parcels per year, of coarse Australia post is losing money in a big way concidering the domestic parcel post cost is anywhere from $7.55 upwards.

This i believe is why the consistant price rises by Au post, clawing back the short fall from the Australian people, in fact the people are now subsidising chinas postage as well.

Every Australian online business is struggling to compete with china and this postal BS enables the chinese to sell for bugger all, basically the Gov is out of control and working against the Australian people rather than for the people, helping the chinese businesses rather than Australian Businesses.

As if the chinese item location miss representation wasnt enough, now this comes to light.

The info given to me was from two privately owner post offices about 10km appart in NSW, i use both of them regularly, now the Government wants to close all private post offices and take over the lot, i wonder why.

[davewil1964]

It's called the UPU and it has been around for 150 YEARS. It is not a trade deal and the government doesn't have a lot of control over it as it is an international treaty.

There is no secret about it, and it was probably mentioned when this thread was current. If not, it certainly has been, on the boards, since.

The problem with most conspiracy theories is they use fallacious premises.

[eol-products]

I think you forgot to mention the profit from parcles also props up letter post and the running of post offices which loses 130mil per year.

[lyndal1838]

Just because the letter post division is losing money does not mean tha AP in general is losing money.

The StarTrack Courier arm of AP is making squillions of $$$ and propping up the letter post loses very nicely.

While AP may be wanting to take back the franchises that you have mentioned it is not wanting to do it ffor all franchised post offices....they are still actively promoting the selling of franchises.

[digital*ghost]

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@woodduck*2012 wrote:

Let me try and shed some light on the Au post thing, this is what i have been told.

After speaking with two Au post franchisees regarding postal costs and who pays for the chinese postal deliveries (online buying) to be delivered by an Au Postie to my door.

The answer i have received from both post offices is quite shocking in that the Australian Government Subsidises  chinese postage in Australia as part of a trade deal and that Au post is payed letter value only for every chinese parcel they deliver, thats $1-$3 people, thats hundreds of thousands of chinese parcels per year, of coarse Australia post is losing money in a big way concidering the domestic parcel post cost is anywhere from $7.55 upwards.

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If the cost of $7.55+ is able to both make record profits from parcel services and make up significant losses for delivering international parcels, imagine how cheap it really is. Don't be fooled by Aus Post crying poor and blaming it on Chinese sellers and delivering their mail. I'm not saying it doesn't cause or incur financial cost or some loss, but I would be inclined to think it isn't anywhere near as bad as they would like to have Aussies think, judging by their past behaviour, and the fact that the only reason we "know" this, is because they keep telling the Australian public about massive losses without any data to support the numbers. 

[thegaminggamer]

How's this for logic. Sending a 500 gram large letter to USA is now $18. Sending a 500 gram parcel to USA is $17. What's the point of forgoing bubble wrap and protection to qualify for large letter when it ends up being more expensive anyway?