Want your letter delivered within one week? That’s $1.50 please

Australia post #dailyshoot #Adelaide

Yesterday (Monday, January 4) marked the introduction of Australia Post’s new two-speed letter deliveries.

The basic postage rate (BPR) has increased from 70 cents to $1 – now called the Regular letter service – while customers will need to slap on a 50 cent label to send an item Priority mail, taking the total to $1.50.

Australia Post has pledged to deliver Priority letters within one to four business days (depending on the destination), while Regular mail could now arrive up to two business days afterwards, potentially taking more than one week to reach the recipient’s letterbox.

Express post, which guarantees next day delivery and requires a pre-paid envelope, will remain at $5.75.

Australia Post has defended the price hike, saying the increase to the basic postage rate is only the fifth in 23 years, “at $1, the BPR will remain one of the lowest in the developed world”, the company countered.

Australia Post has also pointed out that around 5.7 million Australians, including pensioners and the unemployed, will keep their access to the 60 cent concession stamp price and Christmas cards will still cost 65 cents to post.

Those entitled to concessions will also be able to send Priority mail for $1.10.

Australia Post said that concession and seasonal greeting mail accounted for almost half of all mail sent annually by its customers.

The company said it was increasing basic postage and taking up to two days longer to deliver Regular mail because:

“The way Australians communicate is changing. With the shift to digital communications, you’re not sending as many letters as you used to, so we’re changing too,” said the company’s website.

“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.”

Priority labels can be bought from Australia Post’s online shop or from a post office. The label should be placed next to the stamp. Business customers have been using this service since June 2014.

You can find out more about the changes here.

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3 thoughts on “Want your letter delivered within one week? That’s $1.50 please

  1. When something declines in popularity, it usually goes down in price. So Australia Post now expects us to pay $1 a stamp, yet will take six days to deliver the letter? That’s outrageous! Australians have the right to have their mail delivered the next day, and not for a premium cost. Get ready for the outcry and the backlash, Australia Post! I doubt Australians will pay $1 a letter for a reduced service. Reduce the cost of stamps to half if you’re going to do that.

  2. Seems ridiculous.

    My Mother born 1919 and worked in Sydney and lived at Randwick before WW2. She told me she would send a letter to her mother at Huskisson, on Jervis Bay and it would arrive in three (3) days.

    No postcode, no express freight(steam train delivery to Bomaderry), no automated mail sorting machines for so called efficiency, One return bus service per day from Huskisson.

    It would appear to me that there are motives for this, sneaky preliminary before PRIVATISATION by sneaky Liberal sell Australia Government. Saying Postal Service not efficient so we sell to promote competition,

    What happens when governments sell utilities in the name of efficiency costs escalate and no more control.

    Look at the fiasco with the sale of Telstra and the trouble co-ordinating all Telecommunication providers. Should have stayed in Government ownership.

  3. Complete outrage, I agree prices go down when service is less popular. Some parcels are taking 3+ weeks to arrive, whereas in the past nothing was over 8 – 9 days.

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