Licensees

Licensee News

New laws for business - warranties against defects

November 15, 2011

Does any of the stock in your LPO carry a warranty? From 1 January 2012, when suppliers or manufacturers provide a written warranty to consumers about what they will do if something goes wrong with a good or service, they must comply with the ‘warranties against defects’ provisions under Australian Consumer Law.

Changes to prices surveillance of letters

November 3, 2011

The Federal Government has announced that it will make changes to the ACCC's role in prices surveillance of letters. Under the changes, the ACCC will oversee the pricing of the basic postage rate, but will cease to oversee pricing of letter products such as bulk mail.

Interview with Australia Post MD Ahmed Fahour

October 16, 2011

Australia Post's Managing Director and CEO, Ahmed Fahour, was interviewed this morning on the ABC's Inside Business programme.

Australia Post 2010-11 annual report

October 12, 2011

Today Australia Post released its 2010/2011 annual report, showing a pre-tax profit of $332.3 million. The contributions of some of Australia Post's key stakeholders need to be acknowledged.

Australia Post prepares for e-commerce growth

October 10, 2011

Today Australia Post announced initiatives to better serve the e-commerce market, including a trial of parcel collection lockers at sites across Australia.

POS technology for manual LPOs

October 8, 2011

Out of Australia Post’s network of nearly 3000 LPOs, 464 do not have access to EPOS (Australia Post’s electronic point-of-sale network). Without EPOS, LPOs cannot offer their local community services such as: EFTPOS banking transactions; CBA debit card deposits/withdrawals; mobile phone top-ups; proof of identity transactions; and business banking. POAAL believes that all Australians deserve access to a first-class postal service, regardless of where they live.

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.