This from an Oct. 31 Senate Estimates Committee Hearing where they were discussing the Australia Post advertising of franchising opportunities:
Mr McCloskey—We have had a number of trials under way—pilots—for a number of years now and we have concluded that really that the franchise model as an additional, complementary model to the other parts of our network—we have a corporate network and we have a licensed network. We have come to the conclusion that where Post shops are concerned there is benefit to be had in having a niche within our network of franchised outlets that allow us to control the offer, control the presentation, and it would operate quite differently to the existing licensed part of the network.
By control the offer I suspect that they are talking about Post branded product. Am I alone on this? It seems ludicrous to me that what was established as a national postal service is now another Coles Myer: buying product in huge volume, taking a percentage and passing it on to the retail network for sale as Post branded. 4,000+ outlets selling their branded product in direct competition with independent small business and a raft of big businesses. The government has no role owning a business like this. Especially since they are doing it all under the guise of an essential service like postage.
This isn’t about postage folks!
Maybe the government should establish another airline or another telco or a network of pharmacies or a supermarket chain? What is happening is ridiculous.
The full transcript is here.
Is it better to buy a newsagency or a postshop