Referred to as the Uber of couriers, People Post will launch across all major Australian cities early this year as a direct competitor to Australia Post, which will also move towards a digital service. People Post is a crowdsourced, online platform which connects users to registered postage runners. Users can send out a postage job online and, within a couple of minutes, a nearby runner will take the job. The service runs 24 hours a day, all year round. The company says all runners receive a security check and use their own transport. Users can live track their delivery runner and also rate their service.
New competitor: People Post competes with Aus Post
The service targets businesses that rely on postage to operate. This includes printers, who have been at odds with Australia Post since it hiked up prices earlier this year. In response to the new competitor, an Australia Post spokesperson told Australian Printer it was assured of its position. The spokesperson says, “The strength of the Australia Post and StarTrack network is unmatched, it is largest in the country. “The industry is extremely competitive and we continue to invest heavily in our network and in the creation of new services to meet our customer’s needs, both domestically and internationally.” The launch of People Post comes shortly after Australia Post announced a new partnership with data innovation group, Data61 as part of a two year project to digitize its postal service. Australia Post CEO, Ahmed Fahour says the partnership will allow Australia Post to maximise its eCommerce expertise. He says, “We are continuing to directly invest in ideas that will improve the lives of our customers and our partnership with Data61 further demonstrates this. “As a major eCommerce business, innovation is part of our future. We need to continue to respond quickly to the ongoing shift in consumer behaviour towards digital channels.” People Post has already launched in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and most recently, Adelaide.
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