The ACCC has just released their findings regarding the proposed price increases by Australia Post on bulk mail and related services, announcing there will be no increase on such services for a period of 5 years.
In announcing the ACCC finding, ACCC Chairman Professor Fels said the proposed price increases relating to bulk mail and related services were not warranted and will not be recommended to the government.
“Such mail is already making good profits for Australia Post and has been cross-subsidising full rate mail users. Further, users of bulk mail services have been affected by recent price increases after the phasing out of AdPost and discounts for unbarcoded mail.”
Further, a 5 year moratorium on changes to prices were recommended to provide planning stability to business, and to retain cost reduction incentives within Australia Post.
Australia Post can seek to change this view but must provide the ACCC with details of the costs applying to the specific services under consideration and not the aggregated “letters business” details, provided in their earlier proposal.
ADMA is confident that such detail would only support its submission and ACCC’s contention that price increases for bulk services are unnecessary.
The rejection of this proposed increase will save bulk mailers an estimated $38 million per year.
The full preliminary view document is available on the ACCC web site and submissions concerning the decision will be accepted by the ACCC until 27 September 2002. If you wish ADMA to make a supplementary submission, please contact David Kee with details as soon as possible.
Source: ADMA Member Bulletin, 10 September 2002
Please contact ADMA on 02 9368 0366 for further information.
