The Mother’s Day catalogue from the federal government owned Australia Post shops was out to take sales from newsagents and other independent family-owned retailers. The catalogue offers Mother’s Day cards, cookbooks, novels, CDs, DVDs, notepaper, gift pens, a sewing machine (yes, seriously!), photo frames, cameras, phones, computer mouse … all sorts of products which have absolutely nothing to do with providing a postal service.
That we have more than 800 government owned retail shops selling these items which are readily available in privately owned retail businesses is appalling.
Successive federal governments of various political leanings have allowed the Australia Post elephant to get bigger and bigger, to wreak more damage on family owned businesses like newsagencies. As I have blogged before, I contend that the act under which Australia Post operates is being breached by their reach into non postage products and services.
None of these politicians, labour and Liberal, can claim good small business credentials when they allow Australia Post to hurt newsagents and other small family run businesses in this way.
We are the average Australians they all so often claim to serve yet they fail us by allowing the Australia Post elephant to get bigger by taking business from independent retailers.
What do I want? I want Australia Post to get out of being a general retailer and to go back to focusing on postage stamps, postal services and products which very specially relate to these two areas. sadly, we don’t have politicians with the balls to make this happen. The result will be more jobs lost.
Australia Post government owned stores are doing more damage to our independent and privately owned retail channel that the proposed carbon tax and any other government initiative newsagents currently have issue with.
When I purchased a newsagency 10 years ago I thought I would be part of a group that woudl promote these sort of catalogues. If we want to compete we have to do these sorts of promotion as a group too. We can cry not fair but
we should then perhaps change our model so we are competitive. We are a huge group so why ccan’t we have a buying group that builds and pomotes these deals for us that the public new all newsagents would have in stock at the advertised price.
Carol, Australia Post being the owners of the official post offices ensure that the advertised stock is stocked by the post offices. As a group we DO have the ability to support promotions from GNS, the various marketing groups etc but our groups seem to suffer because the individual newsagents all too often, fail to support these promotions. As a group we will never match this marketing ability without showing some discipline and support to the promotions currently available. Marks point is that Australia Post should not be playing in this area. They should be innovaters within their industry, not raiders of other established indutries. Never the less we reap what we sow when we don’t use and support the groups that are trying to improve our businesses.
As an Licensee of a Post Office and soon to be Newsagency owner also I find it rather interesting the view that AP should not be raiders of established industries! So when did a Newsagency become an established industry in Giftware etc? Or are they like AP and trying to remain profitable and establish themselves in alternative markets. I always. Thought a Newsagency’s core function was the distribution of printed matter and of course Stationery supplies. Something else AP has encroached on!
Terri, I think you are missing the point of this and my other posts on Australia Post. In the Australia Post government owned stores, around 850 of them, we have our own government specifically targeting newsagents. They get better rent, better deals and leverage their monopoly over stamps. If the retail network was privately owned and the monopoly on postal products unlocked then I would feel differently.
We support GNS promotions but GNS do not look after remote newsagents. A recent mini fair to drum up business did not offer any deals to those who can only get to the warehouse once or twice a year. If you could not get to the warehouse too bad. GNS need to use modern technology to promote new lines to us and make rep specials available to us. I see a rep maybe once or twice a year. We can increase sales if GNS comminicated via email its so easey.
Carol tottaly agree with you