Supporting Temporary Regulatory Relief - How It affects LPOs
LPOG Media Release- Supporting Temporary Regulatory Relief.pdf
Message from Nicole - We need your support.pdf
LPOGroup recommends Licensees contact their local Federal Member to add your voice to support the move to improve the utilisation of the Postal Delivery arm of Australia Post. To allow Australia Post to move forward and remain viable for the future.
Continuing to pay the same pay to employees that do not have the same amount of work to do, yet refusing to find other ways for those employees to be productive in other ways, is not the way to ensure a robust and economically sound business moving forward. As investors in this business this must be called out for what it is, an absolute waste of our resources.
There is little doubt most LPOs have experienced change over the past decade, but the last 3 months has seen rapid change piling in on top of us, in the form of more and more parcels all over Australia. Most Licensees have had to work out very quickly how we adjust to these changes on the fly, because the parcels just kept coming in over the counters and the flow did not diminish to what we had previously expected. We are once again facing an increased need to adjust because Christmas is not so far away, and that is our next expected peak period.
With that in mind Australia Post management has taken the very necessary steps to address the underutilised Posties service delivering letters to our residential addresses in metro areas, in an effort to get ahead of the next peak, and the future growth areas for the business.
Licensees have invested billions of dollars of our personal funds into this business, and we have every right to expect the management of Australia Post to best utilised the resources of the business, to provide the best outcomes for all the stakeholders in this business, not just the employee arm of this business. Licensees have long called for a retainer payment to compensate for when we experience downtimes, when our door are required to remain wide open as per our agreement, our overheads continue to accrue and that does not change, but our foot traffic is no where to be seen and our revenue diminishes as we wait at the counter for a customer to appear. There has been no appetite from any sector of the business, nor any Government of the day for such compensation payments, most especially the Unions. The cry is always - there is no money!
If this waste of resources is going on all over the employed arm of the business, there is little wonder there is no money!
The previous CEO tried to improve the under utilisation by pushing a lot of small parcels into Postie's bags and having them do a bit of both. Licensees often see these small parcels carded back to a PO when the addressee is not at home, and many of them are not so small. There is only so much you can carry on a Postie bike, and shoe boxes and wine deliveries do not suit.
Australia Post has the same amount of Posties on the road now, that they had 10 years ago, only now most households get less than 1/2 a letter per day. It makes sense to restructure the delivery to street letter boxes to make that service more productive, where the Postie will be delivering an actual letter to a letter box, rather than just riding by.
So why then is there such a collosal fuss to protect under utilised Posties from moving into a more productive space, to help deliver the massive influx of parcels that we have been seeing over the recent months, instead of riding around on an empty bike in the rain and the sunshine, just waving at most of the letter boxes on their runs as they ride by?
Why would anybody not see that adapting to the changing needs of our communities to improve the sustainability of the Postal Service not be in everyone's best interests?
A dose of reality
Comments
Bush Boy
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 12:10pm
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It is an Enterprise
It is an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement after all, signed off on by both parties.
And not like the LPO Agreement that has a clause 34 which allows AP to change whatever they like and cut our payments at anytime.
And weren't the cuts to the MMF from 1st July last year due to the decline in letters?
They'll be coming for us again soon, bet on it.
..
LPOGroup
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 2:08pm
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All the more reason for us to
Bush Boy
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 3:07pm
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That's a question for AP.
That's a question for AP.
How many EBAs have they signed off on in the last 40 years.
How many times have these mail routes been reviewed in the last 40 years?
Why have they not made any efficiencies in the last 40 years?
A postie has to ride the same streets, day in day out, whether he has mail or not. And who sends him around day in, day out, not the unions thats for sure.
LPOGroup
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 4:24pm
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AP have not addressed this
Bush Boy
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 5:38pm
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What I am suggesting is that
What I am suggesting is that LPOG should not be supporting one part of the organisation against the other.
LPOG was not formed to take sides in the reformation of Australia Post.
Particularly, if what emerges from the ashes may not necessarily be in the best interests of Licensees.
LPOGroup
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 5:46pm
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LPOG is protecting the
LPOG is protecting the interests of our LPO business interests. Sitting back and letting rubbish happen is how we all got into the mess we used to be in, in the first place. There has been thousands of Licensees who have lost their financial futures because no one did anything, just left it all to someone else. And that someone else did exactly what you are suggesting LPOG do. It is not a good way to run a business keeping your head in a bucket of sand.
LPOG is not in the business of doing nothing. We advocate for the best interests of LIcensees, because we are Licensees. We have our money on the line, and just as I do with my own staff, Licensess have every right to expect the business is paying employees to be productive in cost effective jobs, not to pay employees because their still on the payroll even if the job is long gone.
That would be first lesson in Business 1.01 and it would be pretty concerning if it was not part of your business plan!
seachangelpo
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 6:53pm
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Maybe CEO should consider
Maybe CEO should consider throwing out the EBA and transition her workforce onto APs modern award and wages of APs direct employees frozen until they match the modern award - that would be a real dose of reality ! Govt's ultimate agenda is to privatise AP .... but that will never happen when AP employees are paid more than 50% above private industry. It's not just delivery that needs a good shake up, there's some real deadwood within RNP that also needs a shove out the door....
Windeyers
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 7:55pm
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Originally I thought we
Originally I thought we shouldn't be touching this with the proverbial 40 foot pole but after some thought about the knock on effects of AP not becoming as sustainable as possible we definitely need to weigh in here! Whenever we face changes in our businesses we have to change! Cut here, spend there and so should AP! Seriously the same amount of posties delivering mail as there was 10 years ago??? I have to change and adapt nearly every week (lpo with 2 contracts) just to adjust to the volumes and to achieve the best result for my business and for my staff utilisation. If AP go out the back door they take us too! If AP are spending dead money on posties doing stuff all they can send some of that my way!
postieH20
Thu, 11/06/2020 - 7:55pm
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While I understand the view
While I understand the view that LPOG should not be taking sides in a dispute between AP and the unions, the Boards view is that we are not as such taking sides but putting the interests of Licensees front and center, we believe that a profitable AP serves us better than a financially constrained AP given that neither Labor nor the Liberals will fund AP if there cost to operate increases and they are being constrained by antiquated business practices that are crippling the business if that continues to happen the Board believes Licensees would be the first casualty and we would be remiss in not acting, we needed to be proactive rather than reactive on issues like this.
Many Licensees have been telling LPOG and the Board has shared this view with AP, that it's about time AP got their own house in order rather than continuing to gouge LPO's, I'm not suggesting our prompting has had any meaningful effect but rather AP now has a competent Management team who have seen the need to make changes to the business model to ensure its future viability rather than the 2 previous CEO's who did little to shore up the business nor take the hard decision needed to restructure the business.
We are pleased to see some action from AP Management and someone else in the firing line taking the pain.
Andrew
Chair