Australia Post international postage big changes

[moviemem]

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

[heihachi_73]

I'm still expecting that sudden price hike for regular domestic parcels too, of course without anything more than a tiny message on the internet. 22mm thick, weighs 46 grams, sending from Melbourne 3004 to St. Kilda? That'll be $12.15!

As for international parcels, there has to be a genuine reason why they don't offer tracking except for a much higher price, when the labels, "tracking" numbers and all, are printed from the same computer system, and the items are scanned with the same devices, and look exactly the same; the only difference being they don't upload any details when scanned. Talk about an anti-feature designed purely to get people to pay more.

[moviemem]

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@transport-posters wrote:

Today is the last day I am offering the current rates as my last send out before Monday is tomorrow.  From midnight I will be adding $2 onto all my international shipping prices to cover the increases from AP and how it fits into eBay's grab also.

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How did you calculate a $2.00 increase? Anyone who offers tracking with international packaging will face a huge increase, particularly if they have to use their own packaging.

[transport-posters]

I don't use tracking.  My poster tubes go missing extremely rarely, only about one or two a year.  I'm quite lucky in that regard, considering they go to every corner of the world except the arctic regions!

[chezzy]

After being on hold  to AP (which is frustrating in itself) they would not give me pricing info I sought.

A guy from the philatelic section actually answered my call first and he had no idea there is going to be changes

to International products/prices on Monday.

I guess I will just have to hold off on listings that will involve overseas shipping and sit by my computer at 11.59pm

on Sunday night waiting for the changes to kick in on the postage calculator.

[moviemem]

According to the brochure I received, the price for the equivalent of Pack and Track Int will increase by up to and sometimes more than 100% on Monday for people who use their own packaging.

[chezzy]

In the past I have done very little overseas shipping and when I did it was items under 500g and sent Registered Post. I opted for that because it 'automatically' had up to $100 cover. Am not too fussed if items are supposedly tracked or not because to be honest I don't fully trust the tracking system. I would prefer to pay for 'cover' than to pay extra for tracking or signature.

Monday is not far away now and will soon know if it is worth me 'opening up' listings to overseas bidders or not.

Moviemem, does your brochure have the same info as the jpgs transport-posters uploaded? I have not had a chance to get to a PO this week.

[moviemem]

The brochure I have has the same that was loaded here.

The big problem for sellers will be tracking. If you use your own packaging (as most have to do) and have used Pack and Track or registered international in the past you will now need to use Standard International mail and the minimum weight for your own packaging is 1.5kg.

The prices increases are phenomenal. ebay is constantly pushing for sellers to upload tracking and buyers expect tracking. If you send parcels with a reasonable value (say 50.00 plus) you will be taking a big risk in not using a trackable service.

[transport-posters]

I couldn't talk to the PO people today, I got a newbie who had to re-do my shipment sheet three times because she kept messing it up!  The other regulars were too busy.  For a business which claims to be losing money, they sure have a lot of people in the shops.  They need to increase their admin fees on processing bills and rent cards as this seems to be a big chunk of their business.

[davidc4430]

i just saw on the news channel nine AP's underpaid CEO doing a show and tell on how AP is going to try delivery via drones. lol they must be kidding, how about getting good at normal delivery.

next your items will need to be able to be dropped from 500feet and not break.

and i'm sure prices wont rise to pay for this new wonder delivery system.

[wara028]

I was told at the P.O. this afternoon that OZ Post may re-rate all non-document large letters to parcel rate which will put up the postage cost of, for example, a CD to Europe currently at letter rate of $7.40 (i.e. package <20mm thick & up to 500g) will go up to over $18.00! Large chunks of Ebay business will disappear if this is true.