Australia Post will shed or redeploy up to 1900 jobs over the next three years as plummeting volumes blow out mail losses to $500m.
Chief executive Ahmed Fahour says a ‘dramatic shift in consumer behaviour’ that saw an unprecedented 10 per cent drop in volume this financial year has psuhed losses to record levels.
The situation has forced the monopoly mail carrier to set up a $190m fund to retrain staff and pay out voluntary redundancies, admitting it will need significantly fewer staff in coming years.
The revised loss is $150m bigger than what was forecast in February, when it begged the government to allow it to cut services and charge more for stamps to keep it solvent long term, and takes total losses to $1.5bn in the past five years.
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Losses in the mail division are now so heavy they will write off parcel operation profits and push the whole company into its first full-year loss in more than 30 years this year.
Post says the job cuts from the mail division will come from processing and delivery staff, mostly in metro areas, and those who want to be redeployed to parcels will be retrained.
“The significant and ongoing decline in physical mail volumes means there is less work in our mail service,” Fahour says.
“There will be no forced redundancy of employees directly affected by reform of the letters service and who actively seek a new role.
“The provision will provide a safety net for employees who we know will choose not to transition with us and who may be legally entitled to a voluntary redundancy.”
Fahour says Post has already moved 4400 workers from its mail division into jobs in other areas of its business since October 2013.
Mail industry figures have long called for Australia Post to modernise its operations and make deep cuts to staff numbers to restore profitability, rather than hurt volume with continuous price rises.
Post has the support of the Federal Government to raise the basic stamp price to $1 and implement a two-speed delivery timetable, with the cost to maintain current speed tipped to be at least $1.50.
However, it is still finalising the changes and is yet to formally apply to the ACCC to implement them.
“We welcomed the federal government’s decision to support reform so we can manage the mail service losses, meet the changing needs of our customers and continue to invest in growing parts of our business such as parcels and trusted services,” Fahour says.
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