The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner announced the appointment of two new Directors to the Australia Post Board on Friday 16 July 2010.

Yet again, the Government has missed the opportunity to appoint Directors to the Australia Post Board with postal industry experience.

The government is offering a free superannuation clearing house service to small businesses with less than 20 employees.

This service is optional and is designed to reduce red tape and compliance costs for small businesses when meeting their super guarantee obligations.

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) is administered by Medicare Australia and lets employers pay their super contributions to a single location in one simple electronic transaction.

Small businesses that register to use the service will have their super guarantee obligation discharged when payment of the correct amount is accepted by the clearing house by the super payment cut-off date (so long as the payment is not rejected by the fund).

The SBSCH service will be available to eligible small businesses from 1 July 2010.

Register online for the service by visiting the Medicare website at www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/super or phoning Medicare on 1300 660 048.

The Department of Posts in India has introduced solar power rickshaws for use in mail delivery.

Ten of these rickshaws will be trialled before a national rollout.

These solar powered rickshaws – known as Soleckshaws – are a form of Pedicab, a pedal-operated and motor assisted zero-carbon emission, urban transport vehicle. The speed of a Soleckshaw matches a powered vehicle in downtown traffic conditions at around 10-15 kmh.

There are no solar panels on the rickshaw itself. Each vehicle carries a deep cycle battery that is recharged from a central recharging station which is powered by solar energy.

Swiss Post is now offering a service to forward letters to mobile phones.

Customers can apply for Swiss Post Solutions to scan their mail and redirect it to their electronic Swiss Post Box.

Recipients can access the images of the envelopes and issue further instructions. They can choose whether to open the envelopes and have the content scanned in, or whether to have the letter forwarded to them in physical form, or even have it destroyed.

The service is called “Single Easy”, and costs the same as Swiss Post’s mail forwarding service.

Did your business pack insurance fall due on 1 July?

POAAL has worked with insurance broker GWS Genco Group to produce a Basic Business Pack for LPOs.

You can customise the cover to meet your specific needs. And remember that postage stamps are classified as cash for insurance purposes.

Insurance cover for your business is important. Protect your business. If you don’t have your business pack insurance with GWS, contact them today on 1300 881 229.
GWS Genco Group – www.gwsins.com.au/post

Amendments to the Franchising Code of Conduct come into force from 1 July 2010. The changes concern disclosure, franchise terms, franchise renewal, good faith and dispute resolution.

The ACCC has published a summary of the amendments to the Code which can be downloaded as a PDF.

The changes apply to franchise agreements (including LPO Agreements) entered into on or after 1 July 2010.

As a result of the increase in BPR from 28 June 2010, Licensees will receive an increase to 9 payments, including PO Boxes.

Check your LiPOMS to make sure that you receive those increases.

POAAL worked hard to support this increase – including making two submissions to the ACCC in support of the postage increase.

The PIO has released a report into passports being sent via the mail.

The report notes that more than a million passports are sent through the Australian post each year. Most commonly these are new passports issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and passports sent to and from diplomatic missions for visa purposes. Australia Post delivers the majority of these passports.

The PIO launched an investigation in response to rising levels of complaints regarding passports lost in the mail.

As a result of its investigations, the PIO has concluded that there are measures that both Australia Post and DFAT could put in place to capture better data about lost passports.

The report can be downloaded from the PIO website.

From this November, Canadians will be able to reset or change their credit card PIN at most Canadian post offices.

The service will be available at no charge to the customer on certain chip-enabled credit cards.

There are over 6500 post offices in Canada.

On 3 June 2010, Fair Work Australia’s Minimum Wage Panel issued its Annual Wage Review 2009-10 Decision to vary modern award minimum rates to take effect on the first pay period on or after 1 July 2010.

The Postal Services Industry Award has been affected by this increase.

This means that all full-time LPO employees who are employed on Award rates are entitled to an increase of $26 per week. The hourly rate for employees will increase by 69c.

Casual loading remains at 20%.

Download a summary. (PDF)

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