Six days to send a letter by snail mail as Australia Post unveils new delivery schedule

THANKS for nothing, Australia Post. Our national mail service is about to introduce new prices and delivery times. They’re worse than ever.

Australia Post Letter Box

IT’S OFFICIAL. We would be better off bringing back carrier pigeons than relying on our national mail service.

Australia Post is about to make snail mail even slower, with regular post set to take up to six working days starting on January 4.

And you’ll pay $1 for the privilege, up from the current 70 cents — the postage stamp’s third price hike in five years.

At the moment, “priority” mail is delivered in one day for metro areas in the same state, two days for metro interstate delivery and up to four days for rural addresses.

But in 2016, most services will take an extra two days, and anyone who wants guaranteed next day delivery will need to fork out $5.75 for an Express Post envelope. So-called “priority mail” will cost $1.50 and take up to four business days.

An explainer on the Australia Post website says: “It’s about making sure we have a sustainable Post Office network and letters service, so we can continue to grow in the areas you need us most — like delivering parcels and trusted services.”

This could be the last generation of children to use the postal service.

The site also warns children who want to write to Santa that they’d better get a move on:

“It’s a busy time for Santa, so best get your letter in soon. That way he can write back before he visits.”

Mail addressed to North Pole 9999 — that make it through the system in time — will receive a response from Santa, in a retro gimmick that attracted more than 100,000 children’s letters last year.

We’re pretty sure Rudolf could do a better job than our struggling postal service.

Australia Post’s changes, which were approved by the ACCC, come as the loss-making mail service struggles to survive amid plummeting demand.

The company last year reported a loss of $222 million, with its mail division losing $381 million as demand fell by 10.3 per cent.

While the reforms were being debated in Parliament earlier this year, Australia Post managing director Ahmed Fahour said the changes were “absolutely necessary to allow us to remain a sustainable business” and safeguard jobs, with the new prices hoped to ensure letter delivery operations would break even.

Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour (pictured left) gets his shoes shined in the Birdcage at this year’s Melbourne Cup.

Then Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said that the organisation stood to lose $6.6 billion over the next decade without the reforms, which could save the taxpayer from having to bail out the organisation.

Mr Fahour, who in 2013 was revealed as the nation’s highest paid public servant with a remuneration of $4.8 million, is under pressure as Christmas delivery complaints pour onto Australia Post’s social media channels.

The barrage of complaints came after news.com.au last month exposed flaws in the carrier’s parcel delivery service, publishing CCTV footage showing a Sydney courier approaching an address empty-handed and slipping a “failed to deliver” slip under the door — without attempting to get the resident’s attention.

Mr Fahour’s compensation will be substantially lower this financial year, as he has advised the company’s board that he will forgo his bonus payment of more than $2 million.

The cash, along with about $1.5 million in bonuses to be forfeited by six of his top executives, will be ploughed back into Australia Post’s operations.

A spokeswoman for Australia Post said business customers, which account for the vast majority of letter deliveries, had been using the tiered system of regular and priority mail since June last year.

“Even at $1, our stamp price will be the fourth lowest in the OECD,” the spokeswoman said.

She said most customers would only need to buy a 50 cent priority label to get next day delivery next year, depending on where they are sending to or from.

The priority label should ensure next day delivery within the same state for letters sent in the same metropolitan area or town, or to a neighbouring town.

But those sent interstate, between metropolitan areas of capital cities or between different rural areas will need an Express Post envelope.

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