Licensees

Licensee News

Ahmed Fahour addresses POAAL meeting

February 2, 2014

Australia Post Managing Director and CEO Ahmed Fahour today addressed a large group of POAAL members at a POAAL meeting in Melbourne. Mr Fahour said that he wanted to give Licensees a "big picture view" of the issues confronting the Australia Post business.

Australia Post seeks postage increase

January 30, 2014

Australia Post has announced that it will apply to the ACCC for an increase in the basic postage rate (BPR). POAAL will support Australia Post’s application for an increase to the BPR. An increase to the BPR will result in increases to LPO payments such as the Mail Management Fee and PO Box payments.

Mackay Meet 'n Eat

January 27, 2014

Scanning and the future of philatelic were two of the major talking points at the POAAL Meet 'n Eat held in Mackay on 18 January. POAAL Queensland Chairman Jenny Patroni led the discussion, which covered a variety of topics.

PO Box scanning fee

January 10, 2014

POAAL has successfully pushed for the LPO scanning fee to be extended to barcoded carded articles addressed to PO Boxes. The trial scan fee is also being extended to barcoded counter delivery items.

Privatisation speculation

January 7, 2014

There has been much speculation over recent days concerning the potential privatisation of Australia Post. POAAL is against the privatisation of Australia Post. Australia would not benefit from its national postal operator being privatised.

Christmas update

December 10, 2013

POAAL has been speaking to Australia Post about the uncertainties regarding sale of Christmas postage stamps. POAAL is pleased to announce that Australia Post has agreed to accept returns of Christmas stamps, domestic and international.

Licensee Resources

POAAL has researched and prepared some simple resources for current and prospective Licensee members. These free resources are just a sample of some of the resources available to financial members of POAAL.

The Franchising Code of Conduct regulates the conduct of franchisees and franchisors. It is a mandatory industry code under the Trade Practices Act.

The Code protects prospective and current franchisees through its disclosure provisions and its dispute resolution procedure.

The ACCC has responsibility of administering the Franchising Code of Conduct and investigating potential breaches. It may also facilitate discussion between franchisees and franchisors to resolve problems, avoiding the potential for matters being escalated to a point where breaches of the Act arise.

Licensed Post Offices are deemed to be franchisees under the Franchising Code of Conduct and as a result Australia Post and Licensees are bound by the Code. The Code provides Licensees with an extra level of protection in addition to the LPO Agreement.

Information onthe Franchising Code of Conduct can be found on the ACCC website.

Franchisee manual

The ACCC has put together a franchisee manual to help franchisees and prospective franchisees to understand their rights and responsibilities under the Franchising Code of Conduct. The manual can be downloaded from the ACCC website.

Disclosure Document

Each year, Australia Post is obliged under the Franchising Code of Conduct to prepare a disclosure document for every Licensed Post Office.

Australia Post must provide a copy of the disclosure document to prospective Licensees at least 14 days before the incoming Licensee takes over the LPO.

Under the terms of the Franchising Code of Conduct, Australia Post is required to provide disclosure documents to existing franchisees (Licensees) within 14 days of request. The disclosure document must be updated annually, within four months of the end of the financial year.

This means that Australia Post must have an up-to-date disclosure document prepared for each LPO by 31 October each year. Licensees should request an up-to-date disclosure document from Australia Post each year. By requesting the disclosure document at the beginning of November Licensees will guarantee that they receive the most recent disclosure document relating to their business.

Some of the information included in the disclosure document includes:

details of the franchisor (Australia Post), including the business experience of Australia Post management
any plans Australia Post may have to establish another outlet nearby
details of any litigation involving Australia Post

Current Licensees should mark it on the calendar – request a disclosure document every year from Australia Post. Note that current Licensees can only request a disclosure document from Australia Post once every 12 months.

POAAL has prepared a pro forma letter that Licensees can use to request a copy of the disclosure document from Australia Post.