Tag: Australia Post

Australia Post have began a new international express courier service, Express Courier International, aimed at servicing the unique needs of Australian Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

According to research undertaken by Australia Post, the cost of doing business overseas is a significant issue for SMEs, with more than 75 per cent currently using international courier services citing cost as a key concern.

Until now there have been few options available to SMEs.

Present courier offerings target corporate customers that benefit from high-volume discounts while SMEs tend to pay full price for an overnight service they rarely require, Australia Post says.

The Australia Post survey found two out of every five SMEs using international courier services never require overnight delivery.

Australia Post will be required to show greater transparency in its financial records under new rules put in place by the national competition watchdog today.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued mandatory Record Keeping Rules (RKRs) for Australia Post after receiving complaints from some of its retail and freight competitors.

Other retailers had raised concerns that Australia Post had been unfairly using its monopoly position as the country’s only provider of letter mail services to leverage itself in the retail sector through its shops.

The new rules ensure there can be no cross-subsidisation within Australia Post in terms of setting up other businesses and using the strength from its core business to subsidise others.

Australia Post was in danger of being sold off by the government, Labor said.

Opposition communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner said the coalition’s postal services policy, launched today, made no mention of keeping Australia Post in public hands.

However Communications Minister Helen Coonan hit back, saying the coalition had no intention to sell it.

Mr Tanner said it was the first time the coalition’s postal policy had failed to rule out privatising Australia Post.

“There is no reference in the policy document whatsoever to Australia Post remaining in full public ownership,” he said.