Australia Post has lodged a draft Price Notification with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), proposing an increase in the Basic Postage Rate (BPR) from $1.70 to $1.85 from mid-late 2026 to offset ongoing losses in its Letters service.
The price of concession and seasonal greeting stamps will not change, remaining at 60 cents and 65 cents respectively. These prices have not increased since they were launched more than 10 years ago.
To further support customers, Australia Post has recently increased the number of concession stamps eligible customers can purchase, from 50 to 75 per year.
Currently, fewer than 3% of letters are sent by individuals, with the vast majority mailed by businesses and government agencies.
The average cost impact to Australian households of the proposed price increase to $1.85 will be less than $1 extra per year, and Australia would still have one of the lowest stamp prices in the OECD. This proposed increase was outlined in Australia Post's last Price Notification, which indicated a possible pricing path to provide business customers with further transparency and to help them with future planning.
Australia Post's Letters service remains in structural decline, with volumes dropping a further 11.7% in FY25 (excluding election activities) and is now at levels not seen since the late 1930s. Even with the contribution of elections, the Letters service still reported a $230.4 million loss in FY25.
Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Paul Graham said the proposed BPR price change is necessary because of the disparity between the ongoing reduction in the usage of letters and costs associated with maintaining the Letters service, including the need to deliver to a growing number of addresses each year, even as volumes continue to decline.
"As letter volumes continue to fall as customers increasingly take up digital options, Australia Post needs to ensure the Letters service remains sustainable now and into the future.
"The proposed increase is one of the ways we are responsibly addressing our financial challenges so we can keep serving our customers and communities," Mr Graham said.
Australia Post has invested almost $1.5 billion over the past four years to support communities by building a more sustainable, efficient and future-focused business.
