Licensees

Licensee News

New Australia Post Director

June 3, 2013

Former Commissioner of Taxation Michael D’Ascenzo has been appointed to the Australia Post board. Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, recently announced Mr D'Ascenzo's appointment, along with the reappointment of the Hon Trish White and the appointment of Mr Brendan Fletcher as Deputy Chairman.

ACCC finds no cross-subsidy in Australia Post

April 25, 2013

The ACCC has issued its eighth report assessing cross-subsidy between the services provided by Australia Post. The report found that the reserved service (60c stamp) is not subsidising any part of Australia Post’s business.

Payment for scanning carded items

March 31, 2013

POAAL has recently completed another step in its ongoing discussions with Australia Post regarding carded articles at LPOs. POAAL and Australia Post have agreed to a trial for payment to Licensees for delivery scans of carded articles (where the Licensee receives the carded article payment). This payment for scanning is in addition to the carded article fee.

Perth Business Seminar

March 25, 2013

Licensees and Contractors gathered in Perth to hear a diverse group of speakers at POAAL's Business Seminar. The topics included employee relations and management, increasing business levels, risk management and finance. WA Branch Chairman John Fisher also gave an impassioned update on issues affecting LPOs in WA.

Express Post for Northern Tasmania

March 11, 2013

Australia Post has announced that next-day inbound Express Post services will be maintained for Northern Tasmania. POAAL and Tasmanian Licensees welcome the decision.

Melbourne Business Seminar

March 4, 2013

Over 100 Licensees and Mail Contractors from all over Victoria, along with Licensees who had travelled from Tasmania, NSW and South Australia, came to the POAAL Business Seminar in Melbourne to hear great speakers talk on finance, workplace relations, risk management and taxation considerations associated with selling a business.

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.