2020 might well be going to be a decade of change for our industry, or more probably, a decade of facing the realities of the changes of the last decade that has cut through our safe little harbour. But without a doubt a challenging future is coming. 

And it is not just us. NZ Post is shutting down its corporate network and setting up a version of inconjunction outlets to provide a limited service presence in communities. We have all been concluding that Kiwi Bank had saved the PO network. Apparently not.

and before you know it, a new one starting again..........

So make the most of this festive season with you and your families and friends.

Merry Christmas to us all.

Update on Ron.

Bossie called today to let us know he is on the mend. He has been in hospital for over 4 months and has been to the brink and back. Today was his first day back on his 2 feet and he sounded very happy. He has asked us to thank all the many people who sent him cards to cheer him along. He was overwhelmed and very appreciated of all the good wishes and support from his Post Office people. He said he would like to reply to everyone but there was so many it would take him too long and he wanted to get his thanks out there as quickly as possible.

The viability and sustainability of the LPO network is ranked as a high priority on CEO of Australia Post Christine Holgate’s must have list. This is a breakthrough position for Licensees, and it is time for Licensees to grab the opportunities and grow our Post business to help ourselves to a much better future.

A huge thanks to all our members who have helped fly the LPOG flag at the 2019 Australia Post LPO Expos in Qld, NSW, VIC, SA & WA.

LPOG New South Wales Committee  contact details for NSW members 

LPOG Queensland Committee  contact details for Qld members 

An interesting article about why it is cheaper to get goods from China than from anywhere else in Australia! And Trump is also not too happy!

https://www.vox.com/2018/10/19/17996378/trump-china-universal-postal-union-treaty?fbclid=IwAR0-RXywEgtsFLOaz6_rB6upWOuH5sGl69ffaVLtcKZGYEzhuZTi49RBD48

Sadly, no joy for those LPOs that provide a primary sort on behalf of the delivery arm of Australia Post, under the reformed payment scheme.

Since the inception of LPOG in 2013 we have endeavoured to bring the LPO Agreement to the point where Licensees are paid fairly for what they actually do. A bug-bear for many years past has been by reference to the costs and efforts in dealing with parcels, exacerbated by the advent of on-line shopping. 

On this theme our involvement with Post and payment reform (especially since Nicole Sheffield took on the project circa Sept 2018) was premised by an acceptance that a reduced rate letter handling fee (MMF payment) made better sense and could be agreed upon, as the flip-side presented by Post was for a lodgement or delivery scan payment to be paid for all work, on a per item basis, for parcel handling by Licensees. We agreed to work with AP to that intent and LPOG has been so engaged for many months on this project. 
 
As with any issue across the whole network anomalies are thrown up. As most of you would be aware, over the years Licensees who conduct Primary Sorts have had ever increasing workloads due to the ever-increasing numbers of parcels coming through the system.   

We should all know by now that our payment arrangements with Australia Post are under reformation. Stage 1 was focused on mail related payments, and introduced the new, and increased banking payments.

2,860+ LPOs have now received their 9 month YTD dashboards. These dashboards show pretty much the payment reform as it would have impacted the LPO payments, had the payments been paid under the new scheme from 1 July 2018.