I love how everyone compares AP  to China Post, totally uncomparable, for various reasons.

Everyone would love Australian Wages with China costs,  But as AP already runs at a loss, if they were to drop prices to China rates then in a matter of months there would be no AP delivery services, which would make cheap China Post irrelevant.

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@agrademechanic wrote:

 

 

You have to wonder why anything you buy on ebay from China comes for $1 to $10 Postage, AND in half the time to send same parcel from Melbourne to Queensland or Perth !  ............  and $10 to $40 for postage charge from A~P~ to ensure the FATCATS don't suffer at any Salary reduction; oh dear, we couldnt have that could we !

 

 

 

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Aus Post has some problems, but not all of them are of their own doing - research into it is pretty easy. 

Start with the UPU, the agreement that all signatory countries (including Australia and China) are bound by, and applies to letters & parcels up to 2kg. 

The UPU stipulates that all countries may keep whatever they charge for international postage, and the receiving country delivers it at no additional cost or charge. Periodically, the number of packages sent between each country is tallied, and whoever had to deliver more from the other receives terminal dues to help cover it. (Note: America [read: Trump] threatening to withdraw from the UPU last year, resulting in being able to charge more for incoming packages under 2kg, will continue to have a ripple affect on international postage prices].

You will also find that as soon as a package hits over 2kg, the postage costs from China noticeably jump from what the under 2kg costs are, because then they actually have to pay the receiving country.

So, some interesting questions you may want to ask and look into, is why would China's postal system charge token amounts for shipping overseas in the case where they have to pay a fraction of the delivery cost to the receiving country? And why wouldn't Australia Post (or any other postal system in the world) choose to do the same? 

As for timeframes, I frequently have packages coming from within Australia and from overseas (by which I mean a few packages every week), and I've personally not found a detectable pattern to show that parcels originating from China consistently arrive faster than those originating from Australia. I've had packages from Aus arrive in a couple of days to a few weeks, and I've had packages from China arrive in a few days to a few weeks once they landed here. 

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@agrademechanic wrote:

 

On a positive note, the 50c "Priority Stamp" seems to be the best value-for-money for urgent letters, which can be up to 20mm thick and 500g in weight, where speed is essential, similar to "Express Parcels" 

Our Priority letter service is suspended from 1 June 2020 until 1 July 2021 due to ongoing COVID-19 operating constraints.

 

https://auspost.com.au/sending/send-within-australia/compare-letter-services/priority-letters

 

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@agrademechanic wrote:

HARD TO BELIEVE A~P~  is owned by all of us taxpayers as it's owned by the Aust Fed Govt and yet they still

have the audacity to pay EACH of the FAT CATS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in Salaries and Bonuses, at the cost to all Aussies, some of which can ill-afford Parcel Prices which are "OFF THE SCALE", while theyre trying to keep their business viable ANTIME, let alone this disastrous last 12 month period of COVID19.

 

Charges keep rising exponentially whilst services and weight-thresholds keep coming down; thanks A~P~

.............  Right in the middle of Covid19 when charges should be REDUCED and weight-thesholds lifted

 

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I think many people have benefitted from the recent increase to weight threshold (to 5kg) for the small, medium and large satchels 

The only part of Australia Post owned by "us" is the mail service (e.g. stamped letters, which would cost about $5 each to break even but the base stamp rate is $1.10, thus making a loss on anything under 250 grams); the parcel division is a for-profit entity looking to increase their bank account like every other for-profit business, so of course they want to charge like a rhino on a skateboard instead of being a loss leader.

And the AusPost overseas parcel charges have just been quietly increased:

"Due to significantly reduced airfreight capacity, and increased costs to secure space to transport your goods, we’ll be introducing an International Linehaul Surcharge until further notice.

From 8 March 2021, international outbound parcel consignments lodged to destination zones where we are experiencing additional airfreight costs will incur an International Linehaul Surcharge until further notice. Please be assured the rates by destination zone will be reviewed (and may be adjusted) on a monthly basis until we are able to restore our outbound airfreight to the arrangements in place prior to the pandemic."