Independent post office outlet owners on the Far South Coast have joined a national campaign demanding Australia Post stop taking away business from them.
The small business operators have written to their local Federal MP’s seeking support to put a stop to scaling back services and moves to change their perpetual licence agreements over to limited fixed term ones.
Cobargo Post Office licencee David Wilson is one those impacted.
“I think there’s a lot of change happening in Australia Post that is likely to affect the viability of licensed local post offices. Not only from services we offer but our ability to get foot traffic in the door,” Mr Wilson said.
“We’re all very concerned. Licensed post offices, which represent 85% of Australian post offices in Australia, are writing to their local federal members to say hey we’re concerned about our future and our viability. We need your support,” he said.
Mr Wilson has written to Eden-Monaro MP and Albanese Government Minister Kristy McBain, which he has also posted on social media.
“We are a small business but we do represent Australia Post. We survive on fees and commissions paid to us by Australia Post. We also survive on foot traffic and what we’re really concerned about is that there’s a lot of changes afoot affecting foot traffic into post offices,” he said.
“Another thing that we’re really concerned about is that Australia Post is considering moving from the perpetual license system that has always been there to a franchise system, a fixed term.
“We know what Uber did when it came to taxi licenses. It totally devalued these people’s investments, and we’re really concerned that our investments will be wiped out, you know, and I’m getting to a retirement age. It’s really a serious concern, if changes come into affect, you know. That ability to be able to resell the business.”
Cobargo is a town still recovering from the devastation of the 2019/20 bushfires and the post office is a key community facility.
“Cobargo lost a lot of its main street. 100s of houses and they’re still not all rebuilt. We’re getting close. We’re rebuilding. I’ve only been in my house about 3 to 4 months. That’s 6 years on,” Mr Wilson said.
“The community is really suffering still from those fires. The post office has been a really important business where not only can you get your parcels to you in a safe and efficient way but it’s an area where people can do banking. They don’t have to drive to Bega or Narooma to do simple things,” he said.
“People can come in and just meet each other and talk. For a devastated community, the ability to do that’s really important, a really important part of the community as much as a chemist or doctor or the pub.”
We have reached out to Kristy McBain and Australia Post for comment.
