The changes to Australia Post you need to know

Australia Post have hit some hard times and now they’re sending out letters about letters and how much those letters are costing them. If that isn’t boggling enough, there are some new changes to Australia Post that you should be aware of.

It’s no secret that the way we send and receive mail is changing – it has to. In the latest nationwide letter from our main postal service, Australia Post, they want to remind customers that they know what they’re doing…they’ve been in the post game for over 200 years and maintain over 4,000 post offices. They assure those who read their letter that the new changes to their service are only happening because of a monumental drop in revenue: they lost $1.5 billion in the past six years due to a 33 per cent drop in the amount of mail circulating the country.

“Australia Post will remain at the heart of communities – helping everyone, everywhere”, they said. So what is changing and how does it affect the average over 60 in Australia?

Multiple letter delivery speeds

There’ll be a new non-urgent ‘Regular’ letters service that will take two days minimum to arrive to the recipient so that a ‘Priority’ service can take over. Essentially, if you want your letter to arrive at the normal speed it does now, you’d select ‘Priority’ and pay extra for it, or if you didn’t mind when it arrived, or planned for a delay, you could just go with the standard ‘Regular’ service. These two new services will run five days a week, and Express Post next business day delivery will run six days a week within the network

Stamp price review to support Post Office and postie delivery

According to Australia Post, Australia has the cheapest basic stamp price in the developed world. And in order to maintain service, senders of mail need to pay the true cost of this service. They want to set the record straight about why they’re increasing pricing, and want to make it crystal clear that this is not for profit. “We only want to be able to recover our costs, so we can fund our Post Offices and delivery network”.

MyPost Concession

Stamps are currently 70 cents each but are set to increase to $1 – Australia Post has confirmed that subject to ACCC review it will seek to increase the Basic Postage Rate. However eligible concession card holders can join MyPost for free and purchase stamps at 60 cents (a rate which is frozen at 2010 levels).

How to apply for MyPost 

Eligibility

• Holders of the following Federal Government concession cards (concession card holders) are eligible for a MyPost Concession Account:
  • Pensioner Concession Card
  • Health Care Card
  • Commonwealth Seniors Health Care Card
  • Dept of Veteran’s Affairs Card
  • Veteran’s Repatriation Health Card

Registration

• To register for a MyPost Concession Account:
  • Visit your nearest Australia Post retail outlet
  • Complete a MyPost Concession Account Registration form (available here or in store)
  • Provide the form to an Australia Post Staff member for processing
  • Show the staff member your valid Federal Government Concession Card so they can verify it is valid
• Upon successful registration you will be issued with a MyPost Concession Card which will be sent to you as part of a Welcome Pack at your registered address.

Receive stamp concessions

• After you successfully register for a MyPost Concession Account, you will receive five free concession stamps which will be sent to you as part of a Welcome Pack at your registered address within 14 days.
• Upon receipt of your MyPost Concession card you will be eligible to purchase up to a further 50 concession stamps during the next 12 months from the date of issue of your MyPost Concession card.
• Concession stamps can only be purchased in booklets of five stamps.
• To purchase Concession stamps you must visit an Australia Post retail outlet and present your MyPost Concession card to the staff member. The retail outlet will be able to advise you how many stamps you have available for purchase on your MyPost Concession account. Your balance will also appear on the receipt of your Concession stamp purchase.

Australia Post wants to hear feedback from the community about the changes to the stamp price and the introduction of Regular and Priority services. You can have your say here.

Tell us today, what do you think of the changes to Australia Post? Have you signed up to MyPost? How often do you send letters?