The logic of Aust Post priority mail and daily deliveries

[audio-spot]

I'll be the first to admit that $1.00 for sending a letter to anywhere in Australia is excellent value, considering the kms it may travel. Even $2.45 for a prepaid C5 envelope for sending a DVD up to 500g is very reasonable.

Over the years, as email has grown exponentially, and more and more businesses are sending statements and invoices via the net, I thought the obvious move would be to have my postman come every second day, rather than daily. In the last few years I have noticed the postie skip every 2nd and 3rd and 4th house on their daily route as the numbers of letters decline.

So why would Aust Post continue on with daily deliveries, when if they reduced it to every 2nd day, they would require half as many posties in metropolitan areas? I would have thought that labour costs to have daily deliveries would be a major factor in the losses they are experiencing in the letter side of their business.

In a normal fortnight without any public holidays, what would be wrong with 3 deliveries in the first week, and 2 in the next week (ie every 2nd day)? The same postman could cover another area on the alternate days,

In their infinite wisdom, Aust Post decides to introduce Prioroty Mail (50c extra), which locks them into daily deliveries, and I seriously wonder if many people are using this service. Businesses with priority mail would still be using Express Post and/or email, and Express Post is still an option for those of us individuals that need to send documents urgently.

I am not suggesting that they should sack half their current postie workforce, but they could have allowed natural attrition and/or redeploying posties into other areas of the business, such as their expanding parcel division,  during the past couple of years and into the future.

Are any of you currently using or have used Priority Mail, and would it bother you if your local postie only delivered every 2nd day?

[lyndal1838]

Have you seen your postman lately?

My postman does his rounds EVERY DAY and he is always loaded down with mail and small parcels.  He does not necessarily deliver to every house every day but he certainly could not get away with only delivering mail every second day.

I live in an area of older houses/older owners and I know a lot of them are not computer literate so regular mail deliveries are essential.

[clarry100]

We have made the priority stickers a buyer selectable option on our website and also our etsy store.

At this stage I'd say maybe 15% of buyers are selecting that option.

At this stage there is no way to offer this option on ebay.

Other than if the buyer asks about it prior to paying so we cam send an amended invoice.

I'd like it to be a selectable choice just like express post is.

I've asked them and their robotic response is that they are currently working with Australia Post. Wow!

[collect247]

Yes that would bother me having my postie deliver every second day because sometimes you get mail that someone has dated and it sometimes arrives to late,what I mean by this is that in the letter it might say that such and such is due 7 days from the date on the letter.

So if the darn letter arrives say 8 or 9 days after the date shown on the letter then bam we are in trouble.

And you might well say that hey just contact them and tell them that the letter didn't arrive in time.

Well other businesses don't care about your excuses,so the postie does need to deliver every day for me,

plus it's not the posties that cost AP the most money surely you realize this?

[digital*ghost]

The posties deliver large letters too, and - not surprisingly - they have been on the increase in recent years. They don't cost $1 to post, but $2, $3 or $5, or $2.50, $3.50 and $5.50 with a priority sticker, up to $9.30 if you whack a registered label on one.

I linked to an article several months ago, when the $1 stamp price was more than just an idea Aus Post were playing with, that stated Australia Post not only intended to stem their losses with this increase, but turn letter mail (obviously not small, $1 letters) back to a profitable part of their business. 

There was also a link (supplied by someone else) to AP's proposal to the ACCC re: the price increase. It was clear they omitted vast amounts of important points to consider when they made their application. If they counted large letters in their calculations of losses, I would be quite surprised. They also had a bunch of red herrings in there saying that this increase is unlikely to affect the average household budget because most households send so few letters a year... I call BS on that, because the vast majority of households would spend more than they would ever realise on letter postage - to receive, rather than to send, though. 

I use priority mail, BTW, on every single letter I post out. I don't like it, but I'm not sending out non-urgent notifications etc, I'm sending purchased merchandise that people want ASAP, usually. I'm not high volume, with about 100 large letters sent per week domestically, but my average spend on letters went from around $140 a week, to $250 - the reality is I actually spend a bit more on postage now, because (as AP probably would have expected) I now send more parcels because at a certain weight / value, it's cheaper than a letter, and yet it's more profitable for Aus Post - if something is cheaper, but AP say it's more profitable, than (basically) exactly the same thing, that tells you a lot. 😉

Or, at the very least, this post tells you I trust Australia Post, their claims and all their facts and figures, as much as I trust eBay's. 

[audio-spot]

Lyndall - my postie does not have a full basket when she reaches me, but I have a feeling she is close to the end of her day, so I can't guage how she would cope with deliveries every 2nd day. However, we do have those green Aust Post boxes located around the suburb so I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem. Those green boxes have bundles of letters placed in them each morning from the delivery van, and the postie uses them throughout the day to grab more mail for delivering, rather than going all the way back to the mail centre (which is a couple of suburbs away).

Scrambler - what sort of mail are you getting which is demanding payment in 7 days? Usually with power bills, telephone, credit cards, the bill arives and there is close to 21 days to pay. If it used to take 2 days to arrive, and that got pushed to an extra day, would that really matter? And if the posties are not the major cost to Aust Post for the letter side of the business, what is? The trucks are still moving between mail centres carrying parcels, so wouldn't the letter mail be hitching a ride too?

I'm in Sydney, so in the past a letter sent before 6pm today would have been delivered tomorrow or the next day in most of the capital cities and their metropolitan areas. If Aust Post hadn't gone down the Priority Post model, but just pushed deliveries back to every 2nd day, then I would have thought 1st or 2nd day delivery would move at worst to 2nd or 3rd day delivery?

Whilst I understand that not everyone lives in a large metropolitan area, I am suggesting only those areas would benefit from deliveries every 2nd day. I am guessing mail deliveries in many country areas currently don't receive deliveries every day, and the same postman does a different area daily?

[davidc4430]

we should be moving to a 7 day system not going backwards. employ more posties not less. get rid of a way over paid CEO and spend the money on posties. should in the 21st century be able to post mail and recieve it every day.

why is it the answer to every problem seems to be sacking the little people at the bottom and asking, no telling, those left to work harder? then giving the idiots upstairs a reward for thinking of sacking workers.

[chameleon54]

I,m not using the priority stickers and are just absorbing the increased costs on any large letter items that where listed before the price rise.

[lyndal1838]

I live in Sydney, just near the airport.

My postie is near the end of his run when he gets to me....he has just picked up another load from the nearest green box which is just round the corner from my place.....that is the 4th load he has picked up for the day.

In peak times such as Christmas he often does not finish delivering till after 4pm, although it is usually nearer 2-3pm.

And it is very, very, very rare that I don't get a delivery of some sort every day.....bills, magazine, subscriptions, small packets and good old junk mail.  Just the occasional Friday sees an empty mailbox.

[digital*ghost]

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@audio-spot wrote:

Scrambler - what sort of mail are you getting which is demanding payment in 7 days? Usually with power bills, telephone, credit cards, the bill arives and there is close to 21 days to pay. If it used to take 2 days to arrive, and that got pushed to an extra day, would that really matter? And if the posties are not the major cost to Aust Post for the letter side of the business, what is? The trucks are still moving between mail centres carrying parcels, so wouldn't the letter mail be hitching a ride too?

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I'm not answering for scrambler, but have a read of this (link was posted to an eBay seller group I'm in, so I'm not taking credit for finding it 😄 just passing it on).

This will highlight some of the issues re: slowed and delayed mail, and while I do know that companies have the option to work around the current postal speeds, I also agree with most of the points in david's post above (not the 7 days, 'cos I don't want to be expected to post every day as well 😛 but maybe 6 because I already post 6 days a week  ). 

http://www.theage.com.au/national/snail-mail-gets-even-slower-20160317-gnldtg.html