The mailing industry has reacted with shock and outrage to news that Australia Post is yet again planning to increase business mail prices, this time effective July 1.
“I just can’t believe it and I can’t understand how the government has allowed this to happen,” says Rod Peirce, owner of leading Brisbane mailing house and digital printer Smartcomm.
“It’s heartbreaking to keep getting these increases without any real justification and it’s got to stop,” says Peirce. “They don’t seem to care. You’ve got a guy at the top who’s trying to treat Australia Post like a bank. He’s made some major mistakes and now he’s planning to just walk away. The decline in mail is not because it doesn’t work, it’s because of the continual price increases.”
Peirce says the latest announcement from Australia Post has forced him to reconsider a major investment in state-of-the-art mail inserting machinery for his business.
“We know we need to keep investing in new technology and we’ve been looking at a piece of machinery worth $1m-$1.5m. But the whole thinking behind the investment is that mail volume will pay for that machine. Now, we just don’t know what impact this latest price rise will have, coming so soon after the last two. If we don’t have the mail, then we don’t have that machine.
“These guys at Australia Post are crucifying me. I’m being forced to consolidate my business and cut back staff. The underlying question in everything we do now is: what is Australia Post going to do next? And they seem to have no idea what they’re doing.”
PIAA CEO Andrew Macaulay says the parting decision by Australia Post’s outgoing CEO Ahmed Fahour to increase business mail prices in July 2017 is a slap in the face to the mailing industry.