In Australia, daily mail delivery appears to be a thing of the past, with the gap between postal workers visiting being set to widen.
Australia’s Post Chief Executive Paul Graham has announced that delivery of letters in Australia will eventually move every three days as Australia sends fewer letters and moves to parcels.
“I believe that when we see a decline in email, we must move every three days,” Graham told AAP.
“That time frame is unknown as it depends on how quickly it decreases, but it will certainly be a topic that the government will be addressing in election posts.
“As we see worldwide, the volume of letters is declining and this is expected to continue at a pace.”
The decline of letters and the boom in parcels
Parcel delivery is set up to Australian mail, but the number of letters sent by mail has fallen by two thirds since 2008.
Government figures show that Australian posts delivered around 5 billion parcels from 2022 to 23, but the average household only receives about two addressed letters each week.
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In 2024, Australian mail delivered 102.8 million plots, generating $4 billion in total revenue.
The company also thanked its pre-tax profit of $250 million for the first half of the fiscal year, starting from $33.6 million in the previous year, primarily for parcels and services.
Rising digital shopping
After that, there are shopping bonanzas such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, where many online retailers offer cheap products.
According to Australian mail, 72% of Australians took advantage of these online sales and discounts during their Christmas shopping in 2024.
Last December, Australian mail announced a move to letter delivery every two days and an increase to stamps of $1.50 per letter.
The move helped the Australian Post cut losses by more than 54%.
However, Graham said that the wings of the post office parcels could not be honored either.
The number of competitors in the delivery industry is increasing.
“It’s what you know, we keep awake at night,” Graham said.
“Competition is intensifying and traditional revenue streams are shrinking.”
Australia Post is soon trying out parcel-only outlets and is working to expand its parcel service.
“We’re a marathon here, but we need to run faster,” Graham said.
“Make sure we bring stakeholders along with us on that journey, just like our community, our customers and our government of the day.
