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ACCC says "yes" to postage increase
The ACCC announced on Friday 28 May that it had no objections to make to
Australia Post's proposed postage stamp increase- unless the Minister stops it
the increase will come into effect on 28 June.
MMUA has condemned the increase and issued the following Media Statement:
The Major Mail Users of Australia Limited this afternoon said that the ACCC's decision to allow an increase in the cost of postage from 28 June showed a lamentable disregard for the deleterious flow-on effect of increased postage costs on all of the businesses and industries involved in the production of paper-based mail.
The ACCC has pushed aside and disregarded the warnings of all major industry associations involved in mail matters that a price increase would only hasten decreased paper-mail useage and has subsumed its own mandate to watch over consumer interests in favour of Australia Post, the communications monopoly that has had no regard to working seriously with customers over the past six years on cost reduction and process improvements.
Soon we will see the high volume users of paper-mail increasingly moving to e-communication systems and for companies issuing statements and the like placing some form of financial disincentive into using Australia Post mail. The ACCC has created the climate that will increase pressure for a downward spiral on high-volume mail useage.
IT'S UP TO MINISTER CONROY
Major Mail Users called on the The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, to reject the ACCC's decision, in the in the interests of the Australian consumer and the Australian business community
THE FARCICAL NATURE OF THE AUSTRALIA POST "COST REDUCTIONS" FACTOR
Major Mail Users said the ACCC's statement that it had "assessed the need for a price rise based on Australia Post achieving an efficient level of cost reduction higher than it has forecast" was a totally unrealistic basis for its decision making process.
This is especially so given the ACCC's statement that it "considers that [Australia Post's] cost reductions [to date] could be larger (MMUA's emphasis)".
THE ACCC has approved an increase on the basis of some undefined vague hope on the ACCC's part that Australia Post will do better than it told the ACCC was its best possible future achieving - this is "somewhere, over the rainbow" thinking unworthy of the Commission's responsibilities to the Australian consumer.
Major Mail Users said that only a government monopoly would increase its prices without proper cost reduction measures being taken and the ACCC's statement about "doing better" shows that the current system of pricing regulation is inadequate for this digital age in communications.
THE NEXT TWO YEARS
The "freeze" of this latest price proposal for a two-year period - only intended by the ACCC for the "basic" rate and not the Bulk PreSort Mail rate apparently - leads Major Mail Users to comment that in that two-year time span:
Australia Post should be split into two units: the first to deliver the Community Service Obligations and the second as a Government Business Enterprise to handle all of its non-core business activities;
The Federal Government should review - publicly - the future role of the ACCC in these price regulation processes;
MMUA has condemned the increase and issued the following Media Statement:
The Major Mail Users of Australia Limited this afternoon said that the ACCC's decision to allow an increase in the cost of postage from 28 June showed a lamentable disregard for the deleterious flow-on effect of increased postage costs on all of the businesses and industries involved in the production of paper-based mail.
The ACCC has pushed aside and disregarded the warnings of all major industry associations involved in mail matters that a price increase would only hasten decreased paper-mail useage and has subsumed its own mandate to watch over consumer interests in favour of Australia Post, the communications monopoly that has had no regard to working seriously with customers over the past six years on cost reduction and process improvements.
Soon we will see the high volume users of paper-mail increasingly moving to e-communication systems and for companies issuing statements and the like placing some form of financial disincentive into using Australia Post mail. The ACCC has created the climate that will increase pressure for a downward spiral on high-volume mail useage.
IT'S UP TO MINISTER CONROY
Major Mail Users called on the The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, to reject the ACCC's decision, in the in the interests of the Australian consumer and the Australian business community
THE FARCICAL NATURE OF THE AUSTRALIA POST "COST REDUCTIONS" FACTOR
Major Mail Users said the ACCC's statement that it had "assessed the need for a price rise based on Australia Post achieving an efficient level of cost reduction higher than it has forecast" was a totally unrealistic basis for its decision making process.
This is especially so given the ACCC's statement that it "considers that [Australia Post's] cost reductions [to date] could be larger (MMUA's emphasis)".
THE ACCC has approved an increase on the basis of some undefined vague hope on the ACCC's part that Australia Post will do better than it told the ACCC was its best possible future achieving - this is "somewhere, over the rainbow" thinking unworthy of the Commission's responsibilities to the Australian consumer.
Major Mail Users said that only a government monopoly would increase its prices without proper cost reduction measures being taken and the ACCC's statement about "doing better" shows that the current system of pricing regulation is inadequate for this digital age in communications.
THE NEXT TWO YEARS
The "freeze" of this latest price proposal for a two-year period - only intended by the ACCC for the "basic" rate and not the Bulk PreSort Mail rate apparently - leads Major Mail Users to comment that in that two-year time span:
Australia Post should be split into two units: the first to deliver the Community Service Obligations and the second as a Government Business Enterprise to handle all of its non-core business activities;
The Federal Government should review - publicly - the future role of the ACCC in these price regulation processes;