NEW RATES WON’T HURT, CEO SAYS
MARGINAL INCREASE IN PRICES MARKS PHASE ONE OF PRICE REVIEW AS POST FIJI MOVES TO ADDRESS DISCREPANCY
Post Fiji announced its new rates yesterday saying the new prices will come into effect on February 1. Chief executive officer Anirudha Bansod said the “very marginal” rates, which varied by a few cents, were a reflection of operating costs of the company, and not base line costs. “While reviewing the prices, we realised some of the products were making losses, and considered the need to rectify our pricing structure,” he said.
“This is phase one of the review with phase two rolling out at the middle of the year.” Mr Bansod said customers will not be harshly penalised by the new prices.
“The increase in rates is only in a few cents.” Most of the changes centred on fees levied by Fast Post services and EMS services. “EMS is one of the country’s most efficient courier services.
“If you compare our prices with any market prices, we are still better off than most.
“International parcel postage fees were changed because of losses incurred by Post Fiji, he said.
The international parcel postage is determined by overseas markets, known as international terminal dues, Mr Bansod said. “When you send a parcel from Fiji, the receiving country also charge Post Fiji. Their charges were higher than what we used to charge to our customers.
“When they charged more, we continued to charge our customers the same old prices which didn’t reflect the international fee. We later averaged out the cost of operations.” The review by an in-house committee took two intense months to arrive at the new prices, Mr Bansod said.
Dominating the money order market
Post Fiji dominates the national money order sector on the back of its maritime market, Mr Bansod said.
Customers will now pay three per cent on transactions less than $5000, he said.
“In comparison with our competitors, we are still better off.”
The last price review was carried out in
2012.
“Historically, Post Fiji does not change its prices often.
“We give substantial time for it to build up, we understand the customers’ needs. That’s why we never keep on bumping the prices. So these prices will remain for a while.” Mr Bansod said there were two prices reviewed.
The first was value added prices, while the second related to terminal dues prices. “Those prices are internally decided based on the market dynamics and competition.”
Post Fiji needed to reinvent itself, Mr Bansod said.
Demand in postal boxes
While the demand for postal boxes continued to increase, the volume of postal mail continued to decline, he said.
“That’s where sustainability becomes an issues for Post Fiji.”
To that end, E-Shop is expected to bridge the difference in revenue, he said.
“The whole idea behind E-Shop is to centralise all postal services,” Mr Bansod said.
Post Fiji is now geared toward engaging with small and medium entrepreneurs to sign up with them, he said.
“The drive is led by Government. The idea is for us to market their (SMEs) all over the world, because that’s the strength of the Post Fiji E-Shop.
Post Fiji’s customer base abroad comprised of the expatriate community who were expected to gain and maximise the service. Post Fiji’s Back To School sale was growing momentum over the years, Mr Bansod said. “It’s become too strong based on the quality of the products and prices.
“The whole logic is maintaining prices that people can hold on to. Based on that, most customers are trusting Post Fiji’s Back to School sale and just keep coming back.”
Post Fiji has 58 stations nationwide.