Australia Post

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Australia Post
Type	Government Business Enterprise
Founded	1901 as Postmaster-General's Department
Headquarters	Australia (Melbourne)
Key people	David Mortimer (Board Member and Chairman} Graeme John (Board Member and Managing Director}
Industry	Post
Products	Postal service, Office supplies, Greeting cards
Revenue	$4.53 billion AUD (2006 [1])
Employees	approx. 34,800 [2]
Website	www.auspost.com.au

Australia Post is the government-owned postal service of Australia.

[edit] History

The first postmaster of New South Wales was an ex-convict, Isaac Nichols, who took the post in 1809, and postal services grew throughout the Australian colonies as they were established. His main job was to take charge of letters and parcels arriving by ship, to avoid the chaos of people rushing onto the ships as soon as they arrived at Sydney's wharves.

A regular Sydney-Melbourne overland service began in 1838, as did embossed covers (the world's first)prepaid postage^{[citation needed]}, and by 1849 uniform postal rates were established by agreement between the colonies. Monthly steamship sea mail to the United Kingdom was established in 1856. The separate colonies joined the Universal Postal Union in 1891.

In 1901, the colonial mail systems were merged into the Postmaster General's Department (or PMG). This body was responsible for telegraph and domestic telephone operations as well as postal mail. According to Australia Post, the world's first large-scale mechanical mail sorting system was introduced in Australia, and operational in the Sydney GPO.

On July 1, 1975, separate government commissions were created to undertake the operational responsibilities of the PMG. One of these was the Australian Postal Commission, trading as Australia Post. It later changed its name to the Australian Postal Corporation on January 1, 1989 when it was corporatised, although it still trades as Australia Post.

[edit] Current activities

Express (yellow) and normal (red) street posting boxes

An old style post box in Marrickville, Sydney

Over the last 15 years, Australia Post has broadened its product and service range and invested in major technology-based infrastructure programs. Today, it operates in three core areas: letters, retail and agency services, and parcels and logistics. It offers delivery services, retail products, financial services (such as bill payment and banking through its retail network), logistics and fulfilment services, and direct marketing and database management services. It also has a number of subsidiaries and joint ventures, including Sai Cheng Logistics International – a joint-venture logistics company established with China Post.

Australia Post remains a government business enterprise. It is self-funding and uses its assets and resources to earn profits, which can be reinvested in the business or returned as dividends to its shareholder, the Commonwealth Government. Under its community service obligations, Australia Post is committed to providing an accessible, affordable and reliable letter service for all Australians wherever they reside. The corporation reaches more than 10 million Australian addresses; operates 4,462 postal outlets; and serves more than a million customers in postal outlets every business day.

Under the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989, letters up to 250 grams are reserved to Australia Post – other people and businesses can only carry them if they charge four times the basic postage rate. All of the other goods and services provided by Australia Post are sold in fully competitive markets and, in 2005–06, nearly 90 per cent of the corporation’s profit (from ordinary activities before net interest and tax) came from selling products and services in competitive markets.

[edit] Board Members

• David Mortimer (Chairman)
• Graeme John (Managing Director)
• Mark Birrell
• Margaret M Gibson
• Peter McLaughlin
• Sandra McPhee
• Tom R. Phillips
• Ian Warner

[edit] Executive Committee

The Executive Committee (EC) of Australia Post consists of the following people:

• Graeme John (Managing Director)

• Jim Marshall (General Manager, Mail & Networks Division)
• Bill Mitchell (General Manager, Commercial Division)
• Mark Howard (General Manager, Corporate Infrastructure Services Division)
• Peter Meehan (Chief Financial Officer)
• Michael McCloskey (Coporate Secretary)
• Shane Morris (Group Manager, Corporate Strategy)
• Rod McDonald (Group Manager, Human Resources)
• Stephen Walter (Group Manager, Corporate Public Affairs)
• Paul Burke (Manager, Board & Shareholder Liaison)

[edit] Employment

Empty cells have no data available for that year. All results at 30 June.

[edit] Australia Post Facts: 2005-06

• Revenue of $4.53 Billion.

• Profit (before tax) of $515.6 Million.

• $267.3 Million will be paid out in Dividends (to the Australian Federal Government) from the 2005-06 results.

• Handled 5.42 billion mail items.

• Delivered 94.9% of letters on time or early.

• Just over half of Australia Post's revenue comes from delivering letters, the rest comes from other activities.

• Processed 194 million agency-based bill payment transactions.

• Australia Post has over 4,462 outlets.

• Australia Post has over 34,800 employees.

• Australia Post owns 50% of Australian Air Express and Star Track Express with the remainder of both companies held by Qantas

• All undelivered items go to the mail redistribution centres, which attempts to return the items to their sender.

[edit] See also

• Mail
• Postage stamps and postal history of Australia
• Australia Post Stamps and Products
• Section 51(v) of the Australian Constitution - on the postal services power in the Australian constitution

[edit] External links

• Australia Post
• Postcode Search
• Postage Calculator
• Express Post
• Corporate History of Australia Post
• Bulk Mail

	Current and former telecommunications and postal organisations of the Commonwealth Government
Postmaster-General's Department | Overseas Telecommunications Commission | Australian and Overseas Telecommunications Corporation | Telstra Telecom Australia (official names: ATC (commission) | ATC (corporation)) Australia Post (official names: APC (commission) | APC (corporation))		edit