Inflation gone wild: ‘Disgusting’ price for basic item

We all know inflation has been running wild – but the new cost of one item has left even shop staff speechless.

Forget about cancelling Christmas, it’s time to cancel birthdays.

No, this is not some ploy to delay the inevitability of ageing, I have another two years to come up with a plan for that.

It’s actually a ploy to save my money and mental health because what the heck has happened to the humble celebration of birth?

When a family member recently reached a milestone age, I went all out and decided to send a card via old-school snail mail. It was an 80th birthday, meaning there were no gifts left to purchase, so the thought (and effort) would have to count.

Choosing a cute card from the offerings available at Woolworths, I casually scanned the card at the self checkout … and then nearly passed out. The scanned price showed up as $16.99. What the actual heck?

Thinking this must surely be a malfunctioning machine, I flipped over the card to check the price on the back … and there it was in black and white. $16.99 AUS; $17.99 NZ.

I called over the attendant to help me cancel this transaction and he too was in shock.

“That’s disgusting!” he said.

My sentiments exactly.

A simple birthday card can now cost as much as $16.99.

But returning back to the card aisle, I was hard-pressed to find anything under $8.

Now I know there are chemists and shops where you can grab a card for $2, so who is buying these? How are these companies staying in business?

Even once I found a price-appropriate card, I received another nasty surprise when I traipsed to Australia Post to buy a stamp … $1.50 to send a card to Toowoomba? (The natural home for any 80-year-old.)

Look, I haven’t mailed anything in probably two decades, but that seems pretty steep.

Still, trying to make money from delivering letters in 2024 is no doubt an uphill challenge.

While Australia Post has slashed its deficit by nearly two-thirds compared to the previous year, last month it still revealed an $88m loss for the year.

The service has even called on the banks to kick in more cash after handling 250 million fewer letters, down 12.9 per cent to 1.79 billion, despite revenue from parcels increasing by 2 per cent to $7.42bn.

Chief executive Paul Graham said improved business performance was pleasing, but Australia Post still faced significant structural challenges.

“There are irreversible challenges confronting us, including the decline of letters and the shift from over-the-counter transactions to digital services,” he said.

“I’m pleased the things we do have control over, such as simplifying our business, removing complexity and cost, driving efficiencies and careful expense management, have driven the improved financial performance for the year.”

Shoppers are being asked to pay more.

And that last point brings the final unhappy birthday surprise.

A few weeks past her own 80-something birthday, my mother received a text from a friend asking if she had received her gift in the mail.

Mum explained there had been neither parcel nor notification of said delivery, and so asked our local Australia Post whether they had anything for her.

Upon which not only did they hand over her gift, but informed her that posties no longer left an attempted delivery card. Customers either download the app, or just randomly check in at Australia Post to see if any packages have been left.

Just to be sure, I called Australia Post customer service and was told that ‘collect authority’ or notification cards had been phased out. You were either alerted via app, email or a personal check-in at the post office.

Now, I understand this to a degree. While emails and personal check-ins seem a highly risky hit-and-miss strategy, I’m personally just as happy to receive a text or app notification rather than a scrawled card that I, and the postmaster, perhaps can’t read. Or where the ID number has been incorrectly transcribed. That all makes sense.

And sure, cut down on the paper waste – and paper costs – as well.

But what bugs me is that this is a distinctly different line than what Australia Post originally told customers when they announced the new missed delivery digital alert exactly one year ago.

“Australia Post is launching new digital push notifications for customers who have the AusPost app when their postie isn’t able to deliver parcels,” a spokesperson said.

“Customers who don’t have a My Post account will continue to receive paper cards as usual.”

I guess the message about this change in strategy was left undelivered.

But hey, given the cost of cards, who can blame them?