Publishers condemn Australia Post
Publishers Australia has upped its attack on Australia Post, warning that “hundreds of jobs” could be at lost because of the rise in magazine delivery prices, report Mumbrella.
Publishers Australia has upped its attack on Australia Post, warning that “hundreds of jobs” could be at lost because of the rise in magazine delivery prices, report Mumbrella.
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The organisation – which speaks for Australia’s small and medium sized publishers – claims that the reason Australia Post is putting up its prices is because it is inefficient and bloated.
Warning that many businesses are “already on the verge of perishing”, it issued an angry statement from chairman Geoff Hird of Westwick-Farrow Publishing saying: “In the most challenging economic environment any of us have ever faced, it seems that Australia Post is intent on protecting its bloated and inefficient internal structure, while the rest of us are being forced to tighten our belts and seek improved efficiencies in our business operations.”
Hird said that he and Nick Chan – boss of Pacific Magazines and chairman of Magazine Publishers of Australia that represents the largest magazine companies – had had an unsatisfactory meeting with Australia Post. He said: “They were not interested to entertain our requests, stating the ‘decision has been made’, and adding that Australia Post had cost increases they needed to offset. It’s incredible, given the unique economic environment we find ourselves in, that Australia Post cannot deal with external pressure like the rest of us have to.”
The association said that Australia Post had cited an increase in its transport costs of more than 10% although Australian Bureau of Statistics figures suggest that because fuel costs have gone down, the cost of transport actually dropped in the last 12 months by nearly 5% “underlining the inefficiency of this Government enterprise’s internal operations”.
It added: “The 3.5% to 4.5% real increases that the price hike will affect on magazine publishers will result in hundreds of job losses across the publishing and printing sectors – with MPA and PA members certain to reduce print and post runs.
Hird said: “The harsh reality is that many will be forced to cut staff – as will our print industry partners, in line with dropping print run volumes.”
So far, Australia Post managing director Graeme Johns has not responded to requests from the association for a meeting with him. Mumbrella attempted to contact Australia Post for comment late yesterday afternoon, but the switchboard was closed for the day.
