Australia Post to help branches deliver

More than $41 million in post office box payments have been brought forward three months to help manage the ongoing sustainability of LPOs in the face of declining mail volumes, said Australia Post managing director Ahmed Fahour.

A third-party independent study into the sustainability of the LPO network will also be established, as will a new formal working group with licensee representative bodies to help address strategic challenges facing the network.

Licensed Post Office (LPO) Group chairperson Angela Cramp, Wollongong, said these were steps in the right direction of recognising that the LPO network was in "dire straits and action needed to be taken".

"The measures announced will certainly assist licensees to continue trading, and the announcement of the formal and independent study into the structure and payments made to licensees will allow all parties to look towards a more positive future."

But Ms Cramp said the measures wouldn't help everybody.

"There are almost 300 licensees who do not offer this service and will receive no benefit from the advance.

"The LPO Group looks forward to working with Australia Post to achieve similar relief for those licensees."

What was particularly welcome, according to Ms Cramp, was the announcement that Australia Post would commence actioning some of the recommendations outlined by the Environment and Communications Senate Committee in its final report following the recent Senate Inquiry.

Mr Fahour said Australia Post was committed to maintaining its extensive post office network.

"We are establishing an agreed terms of reference for a formal independent study into our licensed post office network, to be conducted by a third party.

"The findings of this study will form part of a broader review into the structure and value of payments to licensees.

"I'm confident that by also extending our consultative arrangements to include formal meetings with licensed post office representative bodies, such as LPO Group, APLAC (Australia Post Licensee Advisory Council) and POAAL (Post Office Agents Association Limited), we are well placed to help address the strategic challenges facing the traditional mail business.

Mr Fahour said Australia Post, in consultation with licensed post office representative bodies, was proceeding with a range of initiatives including:

- Expedited credit applied to January statements for returned excess Christmas postage stamps;

- A revised dispute resolution process for licensees to streamline the process, as well as the early identification of any systemic network issues. Details on this revised process will be communicated to licensees once finalised;

- Consultation with POAAL to expand the definition of the term "Association" in the LPO Agreement to include other LPO representative bodies. Those other LPO representative bodies will then form part of the consultative arrangements under the LPO Agreement; and,

- An upgraded process on the potential transfer of customers from licensed post offices to other Australia Post services effective December 2014. This includes updated communication and consultation processes, as well as the introduction of a new customer transfer payment.

He said further work was underway to enter a formal mediation with franchisees around the transition of franchised post offices to licensed post offices.

Central to its reform plans, Australia Post is seeking federal government approval to introduce changes to its letters service.

This includes a two-speed letters service to consumers - in line with the two-speed service already available to business customers - allowing them to choose between a priority service delivered to the current timetable and a lower price regular service delivered 1-2 days slower.

It also wants the ability to set differing prices for the two services that allow it to factor in the relevant costs, volume movements and customer segment specific circumstances.

Those costs include running the post office network.

"An example of this is our commitment to protecting 5.7 million concession card holders from stamp price increases by holding the 60 cent price until 2017 and maintaining its regional and rural services," Mr Fahour said.

"Extensive consultation is also underway with local communities around these proposed changes.

"This includes more than 30 local listening posts outside local post offices, and ongoing support for the national conversation website, which has more than 100,000 registered users providing regular feedback."

To participate visit Australia Post.