Australia Post Annual Report 2008–09

Core businesses Agency services & retail merchandise
Delivering quality
customer service
Across our network, which serves around
a million customers every business day, our
people once again achieved an excellent rating
of 95.9 per cent in our priorityCustomer
mystery shopping program. This result
is slightly lower than the record high of
97 per cent recorded last year. A new
measure, customer engagement, was added
to the program, to measure the ability of our
staff to assess customers’ needs and match
them to relevant product or service solutions.
From a store design perspective, it is expected
that, by the end of the 2009–10 financial year,
approximately 170 stores will have been
refurbished with consistent retail themes such
as “Home and Office” and “Gift and Celebrate”.
This program is designed to enhance customers’
in-store shopping experiences through
improved product and outlet presentation
and also enables more accurate measurement
and management of product performance.
Agency services & retail
merchandise revenue
Despite the economic downturn and continuing
pressures on our traditional business, the
portfolio’s revenue grew by 3.2 per cent in
2008–09. This impressive result is due to the
success of new products and services initiatives.
Agency services
Because of Australia Post’s vast network
of retail outlets, including in remote areas
where services are otherwise limited, we
perform an extensive range of agency services
for more than 750 Australian businesses and
government bodies. More than half of the
customers visiting our outlets do so to
conduct agency transactions such as identity
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Australia Post retail outlets at 30 June 2009
Australia Post Annual Report 2008–09 | Report of operations
services, bill payments and money transfers.
At the end of the 2008–09 financial year,
3,297 of our outlets had the technological
capability to conduct these services.
In 2008–09, revenue from agency services
increased by 1.7 per cent.
Bill payments
Difficult economic conditions led many
customers back to over-the-counter bill
payment as cash-payments and part-payment
became more attractive. This, plus the 56
new billers that joined after the demise of
Bill Express, resulted in better-than-expected
results in 2008–09 – transactions remained
relatively steady at 149 million, while
revenue rose slightly.
While Australia Post remains the leading
over-the-counter bill payment provider, our
branded credit card payment services, available
online at www.postbillpay.com.au and by phone
on 13 18 16, are also performing well. As the
longer-term shift away from over-the-counter
bill payment continues, such multi-channel
services will continue to attract credit card
users seeking a reliable, efficient and trusted
means of paying the majority of household bills.
The security and accessibility of Postbillpay
also make it highly attractive to large
state and national billers. Furthermore, after
outsourcing the management of the operations
platform to a specialist provider, introducing
and managing new clients became a more
streamlined process as of May 2009. The
change means Postbillpay is now a realistic
option for smaller billers.
Identity services
Our trusted and well-established
position in processing Australian passport
applications has led to Australia Post playing
an increasingly significant role in the expanding
NSW/ACT Vic/Tas Qld WA SA/NT Australia
Corporate offices 273 224 167 88 75 827
Licensed post offices and franchises 911 976 465 298 319 2,969
Community postal agents 101 71 190 84 191 637
Total outlets 1,285 1,271 822 470 585 4,433
Note: This table uses Australia Post administrative states, not geographic states (which form the basis of Table 4 on page 126).
identity services market. During the year,
we achieved a 29.8 per cent increase in
identity-related transactions, with revenue
growth of 17.6 per cent.
We carry out 100-point identification checks
for 39 financial institutions and undertake
various other identity services for an additional
48 businesses and government bodies.
These services include a standardised
anti-money-laundering check, which enables
organisations to quickly and conveniently meet
the requirements of legislation introduced
in 2006. A highlight of the year was the
development of a high-quality online form
service, which was successfully piloted by
the WA Police.
Despite the drop in international travel during
the first half of the financial year, Australian
passport applications increased due to the
growth in travel prompted by cheap airfares
in the second half of the year. During 2008–09,
we conducted 1.3 million passport interviews
on behalf of the Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade, or 92.7 per cent of all
Australian-lodged passport applications.
Building on this strong position, we also
began processing British passport applications
in June, becoming the first external entity
permitted to do so. By contracting Australia
Post to handle passport applications, the
British Government has expanded the number
of Australian locations where citizens can
apply for passports from four to 119.
Over the coming year, Australia Post will
invest in new technology and introduce new
processes that will extend our identity and
verification service offering. This project aims
to further position Australia Post as the leading
provider of identity services to businesses and
government agencies across the nation.