Stamps hike plea as letters dry up
AUSTRALIA Post needs to put up stamp prices, lifting them “in line with inflation”, managing director Christine Holgate says.
Her warning comes after first-half profit slumped amid plummeting letter volumes, down 45 per cent from a year ago to $118 million for the six months to December, as revenue from letters plunged at the fastest rate in the 210year history of the service.
Ms Holgate said the postal authority would soon need approval from the federal government for a modest increase in stamp prices
Regulatory changes were needed, she said, including “addressing just keeping our pricing in line with inflation”.
Ms Holgate said Australia Post would only seek to lift stamp prices in line with inflation and not exceed it. First-half parcel revenue was up 9 per cent at $1.9 billion, with a record 40 million deliveries in December alone. But revenue from letters fell 10 per cent, or $125 million, cutting $102 million from Australia Post’s bottom line.