Australia Post has been forced to defend itself against claims the postal carrier has worsened its service standards on the back of stamp price hikes. From January, Australia Post increased the price of stamps from 70 cents to $1 while also slowing down mail delivery time. The changes were brought in as part of a strategy to combat the growing popularity of e-mail and digital, which has led to a drop in traditional mail postage. Printers and mail houses have been up in arms about the changes, pointing out that increasing prices while reducing services does not appear to be a winning strategy, more one designed to send people away from print and mail.

Slammed: Australia Post have become a target of social media hate

Angry customers seem to agree, they have taken to social media in large numbers after recent cases of slow or lost mail, forcing Australia Post to its website, posting a statement denying any reduction in performance levels. The statement read, “In January we delivered 96.8 per cent of all letters on-time or early, above our required Community Service Obligation of 94 per cent. “Our service performance is independently audited and reported in our Annual Report. We are proud of our track record of consistently meeting the target of 94 per cent of all letters delivered on-time. “While we recognise there may be isolated incidents of delayed mail, this is rare, and we continue to always look for ways to improve our service.” Australia Post price hikes have been a sore point for the printing industry which relies on the postal carrier to deliver print jobs to customers. In 2014 the PIAA’s Bill Healey accused Australia Post of ‘no longer believing in print’ and that it will ‘ride print mail into the ground’. Despite Australia Post’s current woes, its US counterpart United States Postal Service is doing comparably well. It reported an operating profit of $1.3bn in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, which ended December 31, 2015. This is up from the $1.1bn operating profit it reported during the same period of the previous fiscal year.    

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