The Sydney Morning Herald website published a report late today saying Australia Post would be worth $7 billion if it were sold off. While I would like to see the Government get out of owning and running a retail chain, it would be inappropriate to sell the Australia Post government owned stores to a single big player who could easily leverage the monopoly backed brand into even tougher competition against newsagents.
Don’t misunderstand me – I am pro competition. But fair competition. Australia Post leverages its Government protected monopoly to land traffic in its own corporate stores for less than newsagents; they have moved in on newsagent stationery and other sales for a lower acquisition cost per customer; they have leveraged their Government footprint to an unfair lease, stock and conditions situation. If Australia Post were to compete fairly
The SMH says Australia Post’s community service obligations cold be a sticking point to any sale. I’d observe that Australia Post has paid scant regard to aspects of the legislation under which it operates so why start being concerned about these things now?