Our newsXpress Hot Ink pricing beats the ink offer being put about by Australia Post government owned stores.
Where we can’t beat the protected Australia Post retail network is in cost of traffic generation. Their monopoly over postal products and the brand recognition and traffic this brings means customer acquisition costs less than in newsagencies. This is what the ACCC should look at when they review cross-subsidisation within Australia Post.
The photo is of a two page flyer Australia Post is distributing at the moment. While the deals are not that great, that they come out under the Australia Post brand will take some ink business from us.
I hope that the new Federal Government engages more on this issue that the previous Government. They need to decide whether it is acceptable that the retail network they own and protect is used to take revenue from independent small businesses.
Column 8 in the SMH are running a series at the moment on ‘how you can’t buy stamps in a Post Office any more’ :http://www.smh.com.au/news/column-8/column-8/2008/04/20/1208629721646.html and others.
gavin, here is the relpy from AP in column 8
We dip our lid to Scott McIntyre, Australia Post’s NSW-ACT communication manager, who writes: “I refer to Greg Rutter’s comments on Thursday, relating to the sale of stamps in Australia Post outlets. Our customers are able to purchase stamps singularly or in lots of 10, 20, 100 and 200 from any post office. We apologise to Mr Rutter that he was unable to purchase a single stamp on this occasion, and we will remind staff in the area of the correct policy so that next time he is able to.” Can’t ask for fairer than that.