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Good mail on privatisation : Comments
By Mikayla Novak, published 26/10/2012In countries such as Germany, Malaysia and the Netherlands the government post offices have been either partially or completely privatised, mainly through the public offerings of shares.
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When I returned to Australia I found the post offices to be nothing more than an amalgamation of toy store and newsagency, a place where the business of correspondence took second place to cheap China-made commerce. Where the number of staff had been reduced to a paltry few, forcing impatient customers to queue, serpent-like, around stands of greeting cards, kids’ games and books and glossy postcards. Where envelopes and padded bags and boxes – those things one actually comes to the post office to get - were cleverly displayed out of reach. Where writing and packaging benches had been reduced to the size of a school desk, and customers were made to elbow each other angrily as they fought for space. Add to that all the stupid, time-consuming ‘security’ forms one has to fill out just to send a present to an overseas relative, and it’s easy to identify the reasons behind the $91m shortfall.
It is not just the success of the internet and its associated communication tools that spells the demise of Australia Post. Nor is it the fact that it is government-run. It is because some beauracrat, at some point in our illustrious history, decided that Australia Post needed to ‘branch out’.
If AP wants to cut its losses, then it needs to cut back on trying to flog to an already pissed-off customer base, useless and cheap gimmicky goods that no-one goes in there to buy.
There is no doubt that privatizing AP would only lead to more of the same.