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Australian postal service

Before colonial control of mail started in 1809, mail was usually passed on by ad hoc arrangements made between transporters, storekeepers and settlers. These arrangements were flexible, and inherently unstable. It was common for early settlers to ride many miles out of their way to deliver neighbours' mail that had been collected from informal distribution points. The first organisation of a postal service in Australia commenced in 1809 with the appointment in Sydney of the first postmaster. An English ex convict, Isaac Nichols, took the post operating from his home in George Street, Sydney. His main job was to take charge of letters and parcels arriving by ship, to avoid the chaos of people rushing aboard ships as soon as they arrived at Sydney's wharves. Nichols would pick up the mail and post a list of recipients outside his house. He would advertise in the Sydney Gazette the names of all those who received mail. Recipients paid a fixed price of one shilling per letter to collect mail from Nichols' home, with parcels costing more depending on how heavy they were. VIP addressees were afforded personal delivery by Nichols. Between 1812 and 1842, postmasters were also appointed in Tasmania (1812), Western Australia (1829), Victoria (1836), South Australia (1837) and Queensland (1842). Settlements outside of the postmasters' domain were serviced by contractors on horsebacks or in coaches. In 1825, the New South Wales Legislative Council passed the Postal Act which transferred responsibility from Nichols, acting as a private company, to the governor. The governor would then set the wage of the postmaster and the cost of collecting mail.

Following federation in 1901, the colonial mail systems were merged into the Postmaster General's Department (PMG). This body was responsible for telegraph and domestic telephone operations as well as postal mail. An airmail service was introduced in 1914. On 1 July 1975, separate government commissions were created to undertake the operational responsibilities of the PMG. One of these was the Australian Postal Commission. It later became the Australian Postal Corporation on 1 January 1989 when it was corporatised into what is now known as the Australian Postal Corporation, or Australia Post. In December 1987, 21 year old Melbourne University student Frank Vitkovic, while experiencing a mental health crisis, entered the Australian Post building located at 191 Queen Street in Melbourne and spoke "animatedly" with an unidentified friend who worked in the building, then perpetrated what came to be known as the Queen Street massacre. The mass shooting left eight Australia Post and other company employees dead. The perpetrator fell to his death from the building while struggling with a security guard. The incident resulted in calls to strengthen gun control laws in Australia. In February 2010, Ahmed Fahour was appointed MD (CEO) of Australia Post. In May 2010, he announced a new strategy dubbed "Future Ready" designed to reinvigorate Australia Post. This included a new organisation structure as well as a renewed foray into digital businesses under the "eServices" strategic business unit. However, in 2013, the corporation acknowledged that, though the strategy was successful in improving Australia Post's profitability and structure, it was insufficient in its contributions to their development as a financially self sustaining business. In September 2015, the corporation announced its first loss in 30 years. The 222 million loss was down from a $116 million profit the previous year. Large decreases in addressed and stamped mail led to a $381 million loss in the mail delivery side of the business. Parcel delivery then accounted for over half of total revenue. Overall revenue was stable at $6.37 billion. In August the following year, Australia Post returned to profit with strong parcel and courier performance, and organisation re structuring. However, mail performance reached an all time low. In February 2017, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull criticised CEO Ahmed Fahour's $5.6 million annual salary, saying "As the Prime Minister and a taxpayer, I've spoken to the chairman today. I think that salary, that remuneration, is too high." On 23 February 2017, Fahour announced his resignation, effective July 2017, telling media that the decision was not related to discussion of his salary. In October 2019, Australia Post completed a major rebranding project with Melbourne based brand strategy firm Maud. This project saw the development of a new brand identity, website and self service platform, parcel and letter packaging, street posting boxes, staff uniforms, and a fleet of custom designed electric vehicles, amongst others. In 2019, with parcels deliveries increasing while letter deliveries falling, the Post Office transferred several thousand workers from letters to parcels. Letter deliveries were reduced from five days per week to two days per week. In 2021, Australia Post began using its first electric trucks; three Fuso Ecanters in Melbourne.

Australia Post operates in three core markets: letters and associated services; agency services and retail merchandise; and parcels and logistics that span both domestic and international markets.

Australia Post collects, processes and distributes letters for the entire Australian community and between Australia and other countries overseas. It also offers bulk mail delivery services for businesses and community organisations and provides research, advice, consumer list rental, and profiling and segmentation services to help businesses target their objectives and customers, along with other associated services.

While postal services of letters and parcels are one of the original areas of Australia Post, it has also diversified its operations into the provision of other services including agency services, business to business integration and logistics and supply chain management (see below).

Agency services: Australia Post provides third party agency services that connect consumers, businesses and government bodies such as bill payment services, banking services and identity services. Australia Post also offers personal finance products, such as car and travel insurance and currency conversion. Retail Merchandise: A variety of complementary products, packaging products, collectibles and post office boxes and locked bags are offered across the network of Australia Post outlets in Australia. Australia Post is one of organisations of issuing agency of Australian Passport along with Australian Passport Office of Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Australia Post collects, processes and delivers single parcels or multi parcel consignments all across Australia and internationally. It also provides complete end to end supply chain capabilities, from manufacturer (domestic or international) to consumer with integrated logistics services and a broad range of distribution options to track and trace deliveries.

Australia Post offers a number of digital services outside of their main mail/parcel/logistics area. These include employment screening, online payment services and a digital identity platform.

Australia Post now offers parcel lockers at over 500 locations near post offices, supermarkets and railway stations. These lockers are free to use for Australia Post deliveries and can be picked up at anytime during day or night. Once delivered, the package must be picked up within 48 hours. Parcel lockers are also available to use for sending prepaid parcels under 16 kg, with tracking details updated as soon as you have dropped your parcel off.

On 23 December 2003, Australia Post and Qantas went into a joint venture to acquire StarTrack from the company's founder, Greg Poche. On 18 May 2011, it was announced the merger of the retail division of Australian airExpress (AaE) with StarTrack. StarTrack will be a solely retail focused business and AaE will focus solely on domestic air linehaul and cargo terminal operations. The changes follow a review of the businesses guided by AUX Investments, a company established in 2010, to guide the review and provide streamlined governance across the businesses. In November 2012, Australia Post bought the 50% of the company owned by Qantas. As part of the deal, Australia Post divested itself of its 50% interest in Australian airExpress to Qantas. On 7 May 2014, StarTrack was rebranded to include Australia Post Post horn in the StarTrack blue colours. StarTrack also took responsibility of Australia Post's "Messenger Post couriers" under the StarTrack brand as "StarTrack Courier".

Letter boxes for houses and units (condominium) are mostly standard items bought from hardware stores. Letterboxes for farms and sparsely located rural houses are often made from 44 gallon or smaller barrels. Such boxes were formerly numbered using the Rural Mail Box system, but they are now numbered according to distance travelled on a main road. For example, if your property's letter box is located 10.52 kilometres from the start of the main road, your letter box number is 1052. Rural letter boxes are located on the road and not the farm.

Australia Post has had a long and difficult relationship with the Communication Workers Union. In 2012, the union claimed that delivery contractors provided a poor parcel delivery service, especially during the peak Christmas period. Alleged shortcomings included a propensity to insert "delivery failure" cards into mailboxes rather than attempting delivery of packages, thus requiring the customer to travel to a post office to collect items personally. Complaints by individuals and the LPO Group about Australia Post's business practices in relation to its franchised retail outlets – Licensed Post Offices (LPOs) and Community Postal Agencies (CPAs) – resulted in the Australian Senate conducting an inquiry in 2014. The inquiry's unanimous report included recommendations for increased payments and the establishment of an independently chaired stakeholder forum. In May 2015, Australia Post had a legal battle with Sendle, a transnational courier using the slogan "Post without the office". Australia Post claimed that the term was deceptively similar to their trademark and what they stand for. Sendle argued that there was no similarity and that in fact, they were differentiating from Australia Post. Two years were spent in the trademark dispute, which resulted in Sendle winning the case.

On 2 November 2020, the CEO Christine Holgate announced resignation, due to increasing pressure from the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher to investigate further into the gifting of four senior executives with the total of $20,000 AUD worth of Cartier watches. The watches were initially reported as $3000 each, tallying $12,000 AUD on purchase. Ms Holgate argued that she did not regret the purchase, as its purpose was to "drive positive change" and "thank and reward positive behaviours". Increasing media attention also contributed to her decision, as it was causing much "debate and distraction" and was negatively impacting her health. She retorted, "I appreciate the optics of the gifts involved do not pass the 'pub test' for many". During Senate Estimates hearing on 22 October 2020, Ms Holgate defended her decision, saying "We are a commercial organisation, it was a recommendation from our chair that these people get rewarded". Australia Post is owned by the Australian Government, but is commercialized through corporatization, and does not receive funding from the government.