I should be grumpy at Australia Post continuing to ignore the provisions of the Act under which it operates – the latest catalogue shows the Government owned organisation selling items way outside its charter. What chess sets and BBQ sets have to do with a postal service is beyond me. As I said, I should be grumpy, but I am not. In this catalogue they have a page devoted to ink. All but two of the items they sell are more expensive than our price. This means I can point to the Government owned post office opposite my newsagency at Forest Hill as being expensive and out of touch on price. Even with our lower prices our margins are healthy. Either the Australia Post buyer has not done well or the organisation is too greedy. Either way, they have positioned themselves as expensive when it comes to ink and toner.
It’s one of the reasons why I don’t mind that they gain our bill payment customers and therefore drive people into newsagents that don’t want to wait in their big queues.
Mark, you in one of the best postitions to actually see customers do it. Has it been happening more since BE went down?
I take this a step further Mark.
Every time a new AP flyer comes out I tear out the ink cartridge page and put it in the middle of an A1 sandwich board frame out the front of my Newsagency. I put arrows from every one of their prices for ink to my price which are always cheaper in some cased by several dollars or so. Whilst it may appear aggressive I like you and the majority of Newsagents can not understand why AP has to sell these and the score of other non AP lines they sell. The purpose of my excercise is to shake people out of their assumption that (a) Newsagents are traditionally expensive and (b) just because it’s AP it must be close to if not the average price.
The results for me speak volumes. We have increased ink cartridge sales in four fold in the three weeks of doing this and has provoked considerable shock on most of my customers thinking about where they think of buying their next ink cartridge.
That’s excellent Angelo.
I’ve heard from my missus that K-mart do that with Big W much to the same effect.
I have written to several Ministers now and the ACCC re the AP abuse of their charter. All continue to turn their heads away and ignore it. Its offensive!
They certainly do, Michael – Big W, KMart et al all have certain products in their stores with posters comparing prices at their competitors stores. This sort of advertising used to be frowned upon but these days I think its a great idea.
I love Angelo’s approach. Mark
One reason why I only do any of my postal needs at a local Licensed Post Office. I find almost none of them follow the crap in these sorts of brochures and the local one doesn’t even sell any ink.. just basic stationary and toys/books, and a small stand of cards. Other then that its all postal based. I’m sure most LPOs would be more annoyed at these catalogues purely because of the fact it advertises stuff that most LPOs don’t carry, causing customer dissatisfaction and confusion. The ink prices at GPOs tend to always be on the higher side compared to almost all retailers. The other pet hate of mine about GPOs is the up-sell. I try and buy a postal satchel from the Perth CBD GPO a month or two ago, and the cashier asks “Would you like some phone credit with that?”, I answer back politely no thanks, and then she tries “How about an iTunes Gift Card?”. Pathetic, pretty much means that will be the last time I visit a GPO without having an urgent need for it.
Bunnings use the same approach in most if not all stores.
Large display cases in their entrance areas with competitors flyers marked with Bunnings prices.