Some competitors of Australia Post, particularly newsagents, have alleged that Australia Post is unfairly competing in the market by using revenue from its reserved services to cross-subsidise its non-reserved services.
And so opens a nine page report released by the ACCC on March 30 this year. This report makes for fascinating reading for anyone concerned about possible unfair competition between Australia Post, particularly their corporate stores, and newsagents.
The ACCC has established record keeping rules for Australia Post which will facilitate greater transparency of the financial operation of Australia Post and, in particular, the flow of revenue from reserved services. This will make checking for cross-subsidisation easier.
Australia Post poses a huge threat to the newsagent retail channel. We ought to be calling on the government to stop its monopoly based government owned retail channel from further encroaching on our independently owned small business channel.
This transparency order from the ACCC is welcome.