We received a facsimile here last week at Marketing Mag Towers from a company spruiking their fax-powered direct mailing service. This is of note not only because it was written entirely in Comic Sans, but also because it seems very well-timed, coinciding with Australia Post’s recently proposed price increase for its business mail services.

That proposal now seems likely to go ahead, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ruling last week that it will not object to the proposed increases.

As well as increasing revenue for our national postage corporation, the changes in pricing structure have been designed to increase the efficiency of the postal network, as the rise in cost for peak services is greater than that for off-peak. It is hoped this, as well as a decrease in the delivery window from four to two business days, will encourage wholesale bulk mail customers to utilise off-peak services.

The price hike will not change the basic postage rate of 60 cents, but rather will see single-digit percentage rises in the cost of business services including PreSort, which provides discounts to wholesale bulk mail customers who sort and barcode mail prior to lodgement.

With the end of the financial year approaching, budget meetings are probably on your mind, and if your organisation uses any sort of (paper-based) direct marketing, or indeed is a DM services provider itself, the ACCC’s decision could have a noticeable impact on the cost of those services and your bottom line.