Australia Post will be cutting approximately 2,000 jobs as a result of cumulative losses surpassing $1.5 billion in the last 5 years.
Business losses in Australia Post’s mail service are being forecast to approach $500 million this financial year alone, with a 10 per cent drop in the ordinary mail volume highlighted as the sharpest annual decline on record.
FY15 will see Australia Post report its first full-year company-wide loss in over 30 years.
“We have reached the tipping point that we have been warning about where, without reform, the business becomes unsustainable,” Ahmed Fahour, Managing Director and Group CEO, said in a statement.
“We welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to support reform so we can manage the mail service losses, meet the changing needs of our customers and continue to invest in growing parts of our business such as parcels and trusted services.”
In an interview with Fairfax Media, Mr Fahour said Australia Post’s modeling is suggesting they will have “2,000 jobs less in the mail side” in the next 4-5 years, while the “growth parts” of the company rises higher.
“So if you look at it over time, we actually think the total number of jobs in the company will be roughly flat over that time period – as it has been over the last few years.”
Australia Post says it plans to retrain and redeploy workers into the stronger areas of the company.