The head of a group representing Australia Post operators and deliverers says many locations are simply running out of room to store the huge number of parcels that are now being received due to the shift towards online retailing.
The comments also come a week after the Productivity Commission said in its draft report on the retail sector that both Australia Post and Customs are suffering from inefficiency problems which are preventing the Government from gaining any money by dropping the GST-free import threshold.
Ian Kerr, chief executive of the Post Office Agents Association, has told the Herald Sun that many licensees are under pressure due to the sharp increase in parcels being received and many are simply running out of room to store them.
“This problem is not unique to Australia. All over the world postal services are trying to figure out how to get parcels to their customers,” Kerr said. “Longer-term solutions include giving customers more delivery choices to help increase first-time delivery success, or installing parcel delivery lockers at convenient locations.”
While Kerr said Australia Post has already provided scanners to help process parcels, long-term solutions are needed. He referenced a trial in Sydney that allowed customers to pick up goods from a distribution centre 24 hours a day if they weren’t available or present during Australia Post’s first delivery call.
The Productivity Commission referenced Australia Post in its draft report last week, saying that several inefficiencies are stopping the system from working in the best way possible.
The Commission said that inspecting parcels for revenue liability – a separate problem from the ones Kerr has referenced – is physically intensive and requires inspecting each article. If articles worth above $1,000 are located, they are sent from Customs to Australia Post.
“While this process is underway, Australia Post retains possession of the parcel. Secure storage of these parcels is occupying increasing space in international mail gateways.”
But Jason Picknell, chief executive of Parcel Express, says this happens throughout the mail industry everywhere across the world.
“I think it’s general inefficiencies. You look at every mail company and they are struggling financially, this is why DHL has a global forwarding arm, and this is why they have an express courier arm. They need to diversify revenue.”
“I think it’s something the main environment suffers from. There is no traceability, or advanced notification of incoming parcels. Perhaps if they had that, they could make some of those changes to make their work more efficient.”
Picknell also says the problem is exacerbated by the fact Australia Post needs to individually screen items suspected of being over the threshold.
“There is an arduous screening process, they need to go through pieces of mail and until they open them up and screen them, they don’t have detailed information on what’s arriving. It’s quite a manual process and takes a lot of time.”
Some in the postal market also believe prices for Australia Post will rise due to the sheer number of parcels being received and processed.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
