Tabcorp announced on Friday a new agreement with Australia Post to deliver over-the counter TAB betting account services. From early December, Tabcorp TAB account holders will be able to deposit, withdraw and obtain balances of their betting accounts at most Australia Post retail outlets. Read the Sydney Morning Herald piece from this morning on this.
I have a couple of issues with this: connecting the government owned brand with gambling (where will they stop?) and the further strengthening of Australia Post retail traffic. Government should not own such a commercial business in a well-serviced and competitive marketplace.
Australia Post government stores are the toughest competitors for newsagents. They get their traffic through government protected customer traffic. They leverage this by competing directly with us on a growing range of fronts. It is Government policy which has allowed their model to diversify over the last ten years.
What a pity Tabcorp chose the Post office. They will be hopeless with this platform. I am contiunually asked why Newsagents (sorry for the term) don’t have a top up for phonetab. We stock all the racing papers, and in our shop racing is a great point of interest every week. None of my customers (and I know my customers) will not go near the PO for their racing needs.
Ann – if your reading this you need to get onto the case… Baz has a good point, other than the TAB we would stock far more racing publications than anyone else…
Mark – I would have thought the technolgy requirements would not be too great, given we can do phone cards… But alas it may be the dreaded BPay requirement… Surely, we should be able to have a simple secure platfrom to facilitate this…
Cheers
Pete
Peter, very easy from a technology perspective. I am not sure if Touch or ePay were approached.
So let me see………. NSW Lotteries for sale….Tabcorp a contender…..if they win, in 5 yrs there could be Lotto in Aust Post (at least in NSW)……
Heather
Maybe Aust post approched the Tab with the offer. Newsagents though are a better fit for punters.
One of the key focusses of The ANF is to lobby government…………ah, it’s not working!
Pete,
Will investigate.
Ann
Heather,
We will know in a few weeks who the successful party is. Tabcorp if successful could casue us a problem in a number of outlets,as you say in 5 years time.
your right Vaughan the ANF are very busy at the moment trying to LOBBY us to buy copy paper.What a pity they are not using that same focus on these other threats to our industry
tab works well in our newsagency
i have never used or had a tab account so i am not sure on how they work but wouldn’t most just do there top ups over the phone ,if you can be botherd lining up at a post office wouldn’t you just go to the tab and place a bet instead of putting it on account .i thought the idea of the tab account was so that you could do all your tab gambling from home
Hi Shaun,
Your assumptions about the TAB accounts are correct. However we have a considerable number of punters around our way and the potential on sell with Best Bets, Practical Punting, Sportsman etc are strong. We do sell and deliver a lot of these, however you would be surprised with the number of people who do have these accounts and would buy the racing magazines on impulse.
Also, Australia Post would not be doing this as freebie for Tabcorp so there is a revenue stream involved with the processing and servicing of the accounts. May not be a big one, but why let it go to someone else…
some how the ANF got a little confused with the roll it’s members want the ANF to play.
selling/promoting books, copy paper, xmas cards, medication is apparently what newsagents want.
mind you, its probably more productive than squabling with the state bodies, over who was here first and who has the best member base.
but in the end, the real issues (like this) that I think they should be on top of, are left to run away without intervention. . . . . . .
i guess with a declining membership, they need to make money from other sources.
p
If the Post Office get Lotto, it will be a giggle I think, as one has to line up to buy a stamp or post a parcel, imagine how the guy in the queue holding his lotto card to put on will feel !!!!! It seems clear to me that the Gvt is actively pursuing retail. Can we see a bowser and groceries at the PO ?????
Baz yopu’ve hit a note. The Govt is losing money with the sale of stamps and bill pay declining. They ned to build their Brand with compatablt products. The thing is they are Gvt. and give Govt service. Let’s hope that that doesn’t improve.
Not much danger of that…
A couple of months ago, I wrote to AP for criteria and other information regarding stamp sales with commission.
Not a sausage heard since..
Y&G,
$300 a quarter I seem to recall, I tried it once too, you need to sell a lot of stamps!
Now, THAT’s service! LOL
Thanks, Brett 🙂
Australia Post is one of the biggest challenges we face yet we continue to do nothing. While some individual newsagents lobby politicians, not enough do to gain traction. We all need to let our local member know about the impact of the government owned stores on independent family businesses.
Mark,
The problem with that is the our letters go to the same public servant who has been in the same job for the last 15 years and to date has yet to even answer my letter properly. The Government in this case is an intractable public servant. We need a Nick Xenaphon/Barnaby Joyce or equivalent to be fired up over this and take it on from the inside.
Brett, the letters need to go to politicians and not public servants. This is a policy issue.
Mark,
I agree, just not the current Minister or indeed the Oppposition spokesman. We need someone with out that baggage.
BAZ said ” Can we see a bowser and groceries at the PO ?????” You can today if you go to the right places. LPO franchises are held by retail businesses with all sorts of other offerings, particularly in more rural areas. One business not too far from me is not only a PO, fuel seller and grocer, but is a pub as well.
The wait in Post Offices are long enough with all the services they now seam to cover. Let alone letting people manage their tab account. Next thing you know you will be able to do your grocery shopping in an Aust Post. You news agency guys do it tough when your competition is owned by the Aust Govt.