Privatise Australia Post?

[technobabble66]

These are all valid points, but lets not forget that the OP needed a 3kg satchel on a Saturday arvo once and he copped a lot of long queues. Obviously privatisation would fix these problems........unless of course most AUS post shops were already franchises and I'd imagine that up to a point these issues could be resolved by the existing franchise owners without privatisation if said franchisee weren't dealing with the issues all customer service based small business' face.

Edit: no sarcasm font.

Yep, seems remarkably similar to the same problems i face if i ever need to go to a branch of the big 4 banks - and they're very very privatised. Though it could be they don't face enough competition to provoke them to open on saturdays, etc - maybe something to do with there only being 4 majors in the market.
I'd be guessing Australia's not big enough to support more than one major Auspost-type operation. So i'd be guessing there'd be a complete absence of competition, so really no need to improve their services, etc, just collect cash as profits.
Kinda like Telstra, really.

I think that should it be up for sale then the government would retain a substantial share as in the U.K.
Australia seems to follow leads by the U.K, whereas 30% is retained by the government, what has to be considered is with emails and private parcel deliveries how much of a cash cow is it going to be in the near future.
Stu, it is a fact of life that a liberal governments have to come in and try to get us out of the **** that a previous labour governments has got us into, how many times does it have to happen before people realise.

Again, just like Telstra.
First step, float the entity on the stock market, with the Government taking a major stake. Sounds great, best of both worlds: the benefits of operating the entity as a privatised company, and the public still retain a large enough share to maintain a good income & controlling interest.
A few/several years later, the obvious becomes more apparent: there is a major conflict with the government having a large interest in a major player (or monopoly) of a critical industry. Advised by everyone the government must divest its interest.
TaDah - public no longer have a share in the entity, just an industry controlled by a monopolising corporate entity.

Awesome result. [sarcasm, btw ]

Yep - there does seem to be a pattern in Labor creates the debt, and Liberal has to pay it off. It's extremely frustrating. I just don't see this as a good enough excuse to justify this particular course of action.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Its a vicious pattern. Liberal payoff Labours debt but then dont spend enough on infrastucture,health, education etc so Labour comes in and spends to to catchup which in turn leaves a deficite that Liberal pay off. But all Abbott/Hockey will do is the same as Howrrd/Costello by selling off assets. At some point there will be no more assets......and then we are trully ******.

 

[TimT]

At some point there will be no more assets......and then we are trully ******.

You'd think so, but apparently they have creative ways of coming up with more assets. Large parts of Auspost are already privatised, for instance.... and imagine my surprise when, during the later years of the Howard government, they proposed privatising a particular health body which I felt sure had already been privatised (don't remember which now).

Not commenting on the economics of it all as you all have hashed it all out already, and I'm no economist - just amused at the way these things happen over time and the unintentional ironies they cause.

 

[Dan Dan]

is there any reason it needs to be privatised to be open on a weekend? i've never understood this about any government agency really though i'm sure there is some old historical reason that hasn't been changed. what is the 'not open on weekends' thing all about? i realise some are open for a small time on saturday but what's the big deal with extending business day hours so that many people working 9-5 can go without racing there on their lunch hour in a 4000+ people line; and/or extending it to 7 days a week?

Because it's the government. Apparently, I get double time after three hours on a Saturday. I say apparently, because it has never happened. working on a Saturday, that is. Because I have a government job.

 

[pedleyr]

With banks the simple reality is that the vast majority of their profit comes from business, not your and my transaction accounts and residential mortgage. They make a bit out of the mortgage but once you take the time value of money into account over the 30 year mortgage it isn't as much as you'd think.

Most of those customers don't care about weekend hours and if they want it you can bet that their relationship manager can organise it for them (client of mine did this last Sunday. He has facilities with them totalling around $150 million so they bend over both directions for him)... Most branch transactions and most transaction accounts that you and I have are loss makers for the banks, or VERY slim margin at best, so it makes sense that they don't try to make that activity more convenient.

 

[Jaded and Bitter]

Ok from meory this is what communist Cuba under Castro did their Cigar industry.

The cigar factories are state owned and run.

The sole international distributor is 40% State owned, with the controlling 60% previously sold to a private Spanish company.

Stay with me here. The privately controlled international distribution arm is led by profits but does not have control of the factories, but consumer demand and product quality etc. directly affects the factories. ie if the factories making crap cigars no one buys them and things change, sometimes management, or the whole factories closed down, production of higher value lines transferred etc.

They dont just make cigars no-one wants, their brand, Habanos is a premium brand, and all product must be sold.

The international distribution arm does have control over product lines, brands, promotion etc.

So in a way the nationalised factories are operating under free market conditions, they need to perform.

So the government gets 40% of the revenue from international distribution arm and profits from the factories which are esentially in competition.

This has worked very well for many years.

However, I do not consider our current crop of illustrious leaders (All parties) could figure out an equivalent arrangement. I survive in the corporate world and have learned to recognise when management has gone bad within a particular company. There are certain common traits, sometimes what are termed corporate psychpaths are firmly entrenched within the management struture. The results are frequently damaging to the company. I'm beginning to wonder whether a similar phenomenon is occuring with our federal government.

They have allways been a pack of ratbags but perhaps they have ventured into new territory.

Anyway, Aussie post does need to improve, whichever way they go. All parcels, magazines and perhaps even letters must accurately be tracked. If its a book or grains etc you will always recieve it, but if its a car magazine subscription or a CD I only ever recieve about 70-80% of packages. ie if the postal workers like it dont be disapointed if you never get it.

 

[Greg.L]

The problem for the Libs is that the Post Office is an essential service in country areas and those are also the least profitable areas. It would be very hard to sell privatisation to the Nats.
The Libs do have big budget problems because they get rid of the carbon tax and a few other taxes but can't find big enough cuts. Getting rid of family payment B would be very unpopular and it was introduced by Howard anyway. They can't touch the pensioners and can't squeeze any more money out of dole bludgers, also they have committed to the education spending, parental leave and the NDS. They are desperate to find money from privatisation but most things have already been sold, you can't raid the piggybank twice - that's the big problem with privatisation. Defence would be easy to cut but they need them to chase away boat people. Nauru and the other camps also cost a hell of a lot of money to run.

 

[DU99]

asset selloff seems most liberal states in australia have got rid of them.Kennet sold off heaps when he came to power.Newman is doing the same thing.

 

[bradsbrew]

.Newman is doing the same thing.

Didn't think Beatty and Bligh left much to sell

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I saw some figures on what the carbon tax was bringing in...about 2bill. Now the Libs are screwed because they have to get rid of it otherwise they would have nothing to say in campaigne speeches ( since evertime the open their mouth theword carbon tax spews forth ) . The fact they stretched the truth by blaming electricity prices on the tax wont help their cause. In a way they have dug a hole with the carbon tax. They know its a money earner but based their mandate on removing it. And I think they will be to scared to pull a double disalusion election

 

[MHB]

I get it
the letter part isn't profitable, the parcel service earns a motza
lets sell Australia Post then invest the money in a great NBN so more people can shop on line meaning more parcels...
fork that's right we dont need an NBN according to the government that wants to sell the Post
maybe I don't get it after all

Mark

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

25mb/s is heaps fast enough.

 

[rheffera]

Sure why not. The Funds used from the privatization of australia telecom were used well, right?

 

[fletcher]

Because it's the government. Apparently, I get double time after three hours on a Saturday. I say apparently, because it has never happened. working on a Saturday, that is. Because I have a government job.

yeah that's exactly my point...'because it's the government' doesn't count as an excuse in my books. unless there is some deep-ingrained law that we're still abiding by that mandates against work on a weekend or some other turn of the century crap.

keep it public, just extend the hours. i work casually for a telco while still at uni and if we only worked business hours the world would literally end for the fvckwit customers i deal with. postage isn't a week-long commodity perhaps like a phone service or fridge repair etc etc is? i'd loudly beg to differ.

 

[redbeard]

25mb/s is heaps fast enough.

Its now "up to 25mb/s" with the LNP FTTN fraudband ...

 

[Darren Hayes]

Albeit IMO the OP is first and foremost the real face of Aussiehomebrewer. Alas this time he has it wrong. The Abbot government will by stealth attack conditions, penalty rates, casualisation of the workforce and reinforce work choice conditions.
Conservatives and Liberals argue all you want about the workers EA`s wages and lazy etc etc. Y generation?? why the hell do i have to this, Y the hell do i need a job, Y the hell cant i use my social media when working. Y generation is ******* us! They got no balls and trust management. Y generation in years to come will work for 16 an hour and scream blue murder their being hard done by. FFS stand up and oppose an attack on workers conditions YOUNG ONES, We have for the last 200 years secured your conditions and its time you stand up because come the crunch unions wont protect scabs.
Haysie

 

[TidalPete]

Albeit IMO the OP is first and foremost the real face of Aussiehomebrewer. Alas this time he has it wrong. The Abbot government will by stealth attack conditions, penalty rates, casualisation of the workforce and reinforce work choice conditions.

Conservatives and Liberals argue all you want about the workers EA`s wages and lazy etc etc. Y generation?? why the hell do i have to this, Y the hell do i need a job, Y the hell cant i use my social media when working. Y generation is ******* us! They got no balls and trust management. Y generation in years to come will work for 16 an hour and scream blue murder their being hard done by. FFS stand up and oppose an attack on workers conditions YOUNG ONES, We have for the last 200 years secured your conditions and its time you stand up because come the crunch unions wont protect scabs.

+1 +1 +1

I am long retired but to those of you who scorn, degenerate, piss on unions & do not contribute to union funds then just pause & think for a moment ----- Who is going to look after your working conditions if not your union?
EVERYBODY is in a union be that it is called by another name. Just think collective survival here: Doctors, accountants, farmers, employers, they all have their "Union" call it what you want?

If all those of you who are think that unions are the end of the world then have the guts to tell your employer that you will happily do without EVERY benefit that has been painfully gained for you by your union in a long & bitter battle over many, many years.

Good luck to your working conditions when you do. :lol:

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I think it may have escaped your notice that we live in a democracy, not under an authoritarian regime.

 

[bradsbrew]

+1 +1 +1

I am long retired but to those of you who scorn, degenerate, piss on unions & do not contribute to union funds then just pause & think for a moment ----- Who is going to look after your working conditions if not your union?
EVERYBODY is in a union be that is called by another name. Just think collective survival here: Doctors, accountants, farmers, employers, they all have their "Union" call it what you want?

If all those of you who are think that unions are the end of the world then have the guts to tell your employer that you will happily do without EVERY benefit that has been painfully gained for you by your union in a long & bitter battle over many, many years.

Good luck to your working conditions when you do. :lol:

What about the subby that has done the figures and can employ multiple tradies and meet current award rates for their employees but the subby and their employees can't enter the job site because they are not union members. It's a democratic country lets keep employment on construction sites the same hey?

 

[Darren Hayes]

Well said Pete.
Unfortunately i clicked the "like this" AND thats what I dont like about social media and people movement. Feet on the street win wars not a click on social media. ALCOA soon to announce 500 jobs gone in Victoria and our mate/maggot Abbot hasnt started yet on the public service. Victoria 18th February march against the liberal movement that wish to impose a bill no person can protest, picket, boycott.