Australia Post will go the way of Kodak and the local video store without a fundamental transformation of the business, according to CEO Ahmed Fahour, who confirmed the company will axe 900 jobs over the next 12 months.
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Most of the job losses will be managerial, administrative and support roles at Australia Post's head office in Melbourne, with a smaller number in Sydney and other cities. Senior staff and the unions representing postal workers were briefed on the changes on Tuesday with more meetings to be held over coming days.
In an interview with Fairfax Media, Mr Fahour confirmed he was lobbying the federal government to relax Australia Post's community services obligations, which include the delivery of standard mail to homes five days a week.
Australia Post is also required to set a uniform rate for letter delivery, maintain 10,000 post boxes and is expected to deliver letters by the next business day within city areas. If it wins approval to change government regulations, standard mail would be delivered only two or three days a week. Senders who wanted letters delivered more quickly would have to pay more.
Mr Fahour said history was littered with examples of companies that had responded too slowly to technological transformation and changing consumer demands.
"People really don't understand the magnitude of the losses - our letter losses will blow out to a billion dollars without reform," Mr Fahour said. "We are shifting resources, capital and money from the declining area of our business to the growing part - our trusted services in stores and the delivering of packages.''
The decline in letter volumes is expected to accelerate in coming years, wiping out the profits from the booming parcels division. Mr Fahour said that no post offices would close.
The savings from the job cuts - estimated at $90 million - will help fund extended Saturday trading hours and weekend parcel delivery.
The Communication Workers Union's Joan Doyle said she had been flooded with calls from concerned workers. ''This has not been a consultative approach,'' she said. ''And if Australia Post becomes a three-day-a-week delivery business, two-fifths of the posties won't be required and thousands more will be enormously affected.''
Australia Post will next month hand a corporate plan to the Abbott government outlining a detailed reform vision. Mr Fahour also wants Australia Post to deliver more government services - including Centrelink and Medicare services - to shore up the viability of local post offices. Both the Coalition and Labor have flagged openness to this proposal.
The company will be reorganised around two separate brands: Australia Post, which will house the existing retail and communication management services, and StarTrack, which will house the parcel and express services for businesses.
