Fahour's Rejig Needs Licensees Attention
http://lpogroup.com.au/content/fahours-rejig-needs-licensees-attention
Submitted by LPOGroup on Fri, 27/09/2013 - 1:03am
According to The Australian, Sept 25, page 19 (Business sector) Australia Post has managed to raise the return on equity to 18.7% in the 2012 financial year from 14.1% in 2009, the year Ahmed took over. Over the past 2 years the operating losses on the regulated businesses has fallen from $123m to $148m, while profit on the non-regulated business have increased from $451m to $545.6m.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/ahmed-fahours-organisaitonal-rejig-puts-coalition-in-a-box
So it begs the question, why are LPOs struggling to remain commercially viable?
A conservative estimate puts LPOs underpaid by $75m+ every year.
That is an average of $25,000 per LPO. Little wonder that Ahmed can post his profit when he is able to underpay thousands of Licensees, because the previous Minister refused to address the problem.
Australia has basic workplace and employment conditions.
How is a Government Business Enterprise allowed to extort and exploit their so called business partners and not be held accountable? Many Licensees work 60+ hours per week and take home less than the basic wage.
Recently the CEO proudly advised that Australia Post employee’s wages have kept pace with inflation. Many Licensees do not take home a basic wage from a business that is failing to make any commercial return.
The Agreement provides for full recovery of costs and a profit margin, yet Australia Post refuses to pay fair and reasonable payments for ever increasing duties and services provided by Licensees.
Corporate greed is driving masses of Australian jobs offshore to improve corporate profit margins. Is this what is happening to Australia Post?
The current CEO of Australia Post cannot export LPOs offshore, but is he driving what was once a strong, healthy, Australian industry into a 3rd world offshore alternative on our own shores, for short term corporate greed? This is a business owned by the Australian people, is this what Australian wants? Is Australia the CEO’s priority? Or is his priority himself?
If you are one of the thousands of Licensees that run an LPO and you are seeing an ever increasing decline in your once viable business, you will be very pleased to read this article. You will be comforted to know that it is not your failure to run your once commercially viable business that is dragging you into despair. Now you know where your money is going. Ahmed has it!
Do you struggle with that mountain of parcels that relentlessly turn up at your office every day? From receipt to delivery a Licensee will spend 2 – 4 minutes of time on an ordinary parcel, and 4 – 6 minutes on a parcel that requires a signature on delivery.
If they are dumped on you by a street delivery contractor then you will be receiving 29.3cents per article for up to 6 minutes of work. The work required to deliver 10 signature parcels from your office will see you paid $2.93 per hour, including GST.
Try paying casual wages from that income, let alone overheads or a return on equity. If these parcels are for your box holder, then unfortunately for you, you receive no revenue for this work, because this work did not exist in 1993, and is not included in the Agreement that we are paid by, and Australia Post refuses to make any adjustment to our payment, preferring to post this revenue as all their own corporate profit.
Are you worried about your declining retail sales? Hopefully, you have been informed that Australia Post has chosen to cannibalise the business and cut out the middleman, the LPO, in order for the corporate arm to diversify. Your customers will be offered online core products at retail prices, less than Australia Post will supply those same products to you as a wholesaler. The retail customers will be supplied overnight, while the Licensee must wait up to 2 weeks for supply. That, apparently, is sound business practices. Ahmed is very puffed up about how well he is steering the ship.
Are you worried about the decline in your p o box income? This product is quite often a core revenue stream for LPOs. Unfortunately, Australia Post has seen the digital light and has move on to digital land, without a backward glance. And moved on to the tune of $2 Billion dollars. The need to shut down the alternatives is obvious, if all your eggs are in one basket. Driving the retail price of a real P O box out of the market by unjustified price rises, and reducing the availability of direct to household street deliveries may entice a few to take up the digimail box, but it leaves the rest of us with few options for our snail mail. For the current administration to throw away the core product of the postal service, the letter service, to latch onto the new fad, parcel deliveries, is both short sighted and unconscionable.
You may have had your mail service payment removed from your income in breach of your agreement, while still being expected to meet the current obligations for service standards as per your agreement. You would not be alone.
Have you been expected to renew your mail contract at 20% less than the current payment? Failure to accept the reduced income sees your contract awarded to a state wide contractor that puts a low paid subcontractor in place instead. This leaves your LPO with such a reduction in income that you must close the doors. Again you are not alone.
There is much talk of Australia Post being for sale, but as much as the current executives of Australia Post spend a great deal of time with their heads in the clouds, surely they must realise that they cannot sell something they do not own. Australia Post has already sold more than 80% of the retail arm of Australia Post. Licensees are the private arm of Australia Post.
It is time that Licensees looked at the direction that the corporate arm is taking and take action to protect the LPO network. Licensees have invested personal funds and personal effort to provide a viable postal network to 80% of the Australian communities. The Corporate arm of Australia Post has declared the LPO almost extinct. Licensees do not believe that is a valid attitude and that attitude does not reflect the reality of the needs of the Australian Communities we serve.
LPOs need to survive and prosper so that the communities that we serve are not disadvantaged by short term visions of executives who have short term expectations themselves. We need to take responsibility for our own outcomes. It is clear that Australia Post has no long term prospects for the survival of the LPO network.
The CEO has declared 2 out of 3 LPOs to be redundant already. LPOG does not believe that is acceptable and is actively seeking solutions to ensure the survival of this vital community service for all Australians.
Licensees need to accept that the time for someone else to resolve these issues has passed, no one is going to step up to the mark, and unless we take action to protect our own future then we will not have one at all.
Join LPOG to seek solutions for your survival before it is too late.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/ahmed-fahours-organisaitonal-rejig-puts-coalition-in-a-box
So it begs the question, why are LPOs struggling to remain commercially viable?
A conservative estimate puts LPOs underpaid by $75m+ every year.
That is an average of $25,000 per LPO. Little wonder that Ahmed can post his profit when he is able to underpay thousands of Licensees, because the previous Minister refused to address the problem.
Australia has basic workplace and employment conditions.
How is a Government Business Enterprise allowed to extort and exploit their so called business partners and not be held accountable? Many Licensees work 60+ hours per week and take home less than the basic wage.
Recently the CEO proudly advised that Australia Post employee’s wages have kept pace with inflation. Many Licensees do not take home a basic wage from a business that is failing to make any commercial return.
The Agreement provides for full recovery of costs and a profit margin, yet Australia Post refuses to pay fair and reasonable payments for ever increasing duties and services provided by Licensees.
Corporate greed is driving masses of Australian jobs offshore to improve corporate profit margins. Is this what is happening to Australia Post?
The current CEO of Australia Post cannot export LPOs offshore, but is he driving what was once a strong, healthy, Australian industry into a 3rd world offshore alternative on our own shores, for short term corporate greed? This is a business owned by the Australian people, is this what Australian wants? Is Australia the CEO’s priority? Or is his priority himself?
If you are one of the thousands of Licensees that run an LPO and you are seeing an ever increasing decline in your once viable business, you will be very pleased to read this article. You will be comforted to know that it is not your failure to run your once commercially viable business that is dragging you into despair. Now you know where your money is going. Ahmed has it!
Do you struggle with that mountain of parcels that relentlessly turn up at your office every day? From receipt to delivery a Licensee will spend 2 – 4 minutes of time on an ordinary parcel, and 4 – 6 minutes on a parcel that requires a signature on delivery.
If they are dumped on you by a street delivery contractor then you will be receiving 29.3cents per article for up to 6 minutes of work. The work required to deliver 10 signature parcels from your office will see you paid $2.93 per hour, including GST.
Try paying casual wages from that income, let alone overheads or a return on equity. If these parcels are for your box holder, then unfortunately for you, you receive no revenue for this work, because this work did not exist in 1993, and is not included in the Agreement that we are paid by, and Australia Post refuses to make any adjustment to our payment, preferring to post this revenue as all their own corporate profit.
Are you worried about your declining retail sales? Hopefully, you have been informed that Australia Post has chosen to cannibalise the business and cut out the middleman, the LPO, in order for the corporate arm to diversify. Your customers will be offered online core products at retail prices, less than Australia Post will supply those same products to you as a wholesaler. The retail customers will be supplied overnight, while the Licensee must wait up to 2 weeks for supply. That, apparently, is sound business practices. Ahmed is very puffed up about how well he is steering the ship.
Are you worried about the decline in your p o box income? This product is quite often a core revenue stream for LPOs. Unfortunately, Australia Post has seen the digital light and has move on to digital land, without a backward glance. And moved on to the tune of $2 Billion dollars. The need to shut down the alternatives is obvious, if all your eggs are in one basket. Driving the retail price of a real P O box out of the market by unjustified price rises, and reducing the availability of direct to household street deliveries may entice a few to take up the digimail box, but it leaves the rest of us with few options for our snail mail. For the current administration to throw away the core product of the postal service, the letter service, to latch onto the new fad, parcel deliveries, is both short sighted and unconscionable.
You may have had your mail service payment removed from your income in breach of your agreement, while still being expected to meet the current obligations for service standards as per your agreement. You would not be alone.
Have you been expected to renew your mail contract at 20% less than the current payment? Failure to accept the reduced income sees your contract awarded to a state wide contractor that puts a low paid subcontractor in place instead. This leaves your LPO with such a reduction in income that you must close the doors. Again you are not alone.
There is much talk of Australia Post being for sale, but as much as the current executives of Australia Post spend a great deal of time with their heads in the clouds, surely they must realise that they cannot sell something they do not own. Australia Post has already sold more than 80% of the retail arm of Australia Post. Licensees are the private arm of Australia Post.
It is time that Licensees looked at the direction that the corporate arm is taking and take action to protect the LPO network. Licensees have invested personal funds and personal effort to provide a viable postal network to 80% of the Australian communities. The Corporate arm of Australia Post has declared the LPO almost extinct. Licensees do not believe that is a valid attitude and that attitude does not reflect the reality of the needs of the Australian Communities we serve.
LPOs need to survive and prosper so that the communities that we serve are not disadvantaged by short term visions of executives who have short term expectations themselves. We need to take responsibility for our own outcomes. It is clear that Australia Post has no long term prospects for the survival of the LPO network.
The CEO has declared 2 out of 3 LPOs to be redundant already. LPOG does not believe that is acceptable and is actively seeking solutions to ensure the survival of this vital community service for all Australians.
Licensees need to accept that the time for someone else to resolve these issues has passed, no one is going to step up to the mark, and unless we take action to protect our own future then we will not have one at all.
Join LPOG to seek solutions for your survival before it is too late.
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