Australia Post has been urged to allow rival parcel carriers to use its network of independently owned post offices, amid claims its monopoly is limiting delivery options for regional and rural consumers.
The Australian Parcels Industry Forum told a Senate inquiry that Australia Post’s contracts prevent post office licensees from offering parcel collection and returns services for competing carriers.
The forum, which represents FedEx and Team Global Express, said efforts to work with licensees had been met with resistance from Australia Post and requests for communication to take place through lawyers.
Australia Post holds about 70 per cent of the national e-commerce parcels market, according to the forum, with its share rising to at least 95 per cent in regional areas.
Jon Bell, an executive member of the forum, told the inquiry in Canberra that the level of market concentration reduced the incentive to improve services.
“When you have a 95 per cent market share player … there’s not a lot of incentive for service improvement there,” he said.
Mr Bell said retailers had told the forum they could sell more products to regional Australians if customers had a choice of parcel delivery providers. Some, he said, had blocked certain postcodes because delivery was too difficult, slow or expensive using existing services.
The forum said the Darling Downs region of Queensland had 46 parcel collection points at community post offices. However, retailers using another carrier had access to only 18 collection locations, potentially leaving customers facing a 165km round trip to the nearest depot.
Economic modelling submitted to the inquiry suggested that allowing competitors to access Australia Post post offices could generate $1.5 billion over 10 years. The forum said the change could create about 1,000 regional jobs and provide additional revenue that would help Australia Post expand its parcels business.
Tom Harden, of the Conference of Asia Pacific Express Carriers, said rival operators could take on final-mile deliveries, reducing costs and improving speed.
“If there’s a lower cost for the final mile, everyone gets a little bit cheaper, and we get a little bit faster,” he told the inquiry.
Alternative carriers have repeatedly called for access to Australia Post’s network, with Sendle among those to have previously lobbied for change before its collapse in January.
Australia Post’s submission to the inquiry said its mandated role was to provide national postal services. It also had to meet shareholders’ expectations as its letters business and demand for other traditional services declined.
The postal service delivered a record 283 million parcels in the second half of last year, including 111 million during the Christmas period, helping it record a modest profit despite the steep fall in letter volumes.
