Stamp Prices Set to Rise Again: The Need for Price Stability
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What Businesses Should Expect from Future Postage Pricing
Basic stamp prices in Australia are set to rise again, less than 12 months after the previous increase. While Australia Post cites “structural decline” as the driving factor, the scale and frequency of recent price increases are prompting questions across the industry about long-term pricing stability and transparency.
Earlier this year, Australia Post announced their intention to increase the price of a basic stamp from $1.70 to $1.85, citing the ongoing “structural decline” as the key driver.
The shift toward digital communications has significantly reduced the number of letters moving through the postal network over the past decade. At the same time, the cost of maintaining a nationwide delivery service continues to rise.
For Australia Post, this creates a difficult balancing act — maintaining national service while adapting to changing communication behaviours. Industry groups such as the Visual Media Association have raised concerns about the scale and frequency of recent price increases and are calling for greater stability and transparency in future pricing.
What This Means for Organisations Relying on Mail
Zipform Digital works with hundreds of businesses across local and state government, utilities, financial services and the not-for-profit sector that continue to rely on physical mail as part of their customer communications strategy, fundraising or regulatory requirements.
According to Richard Vaughan, the challenge for many organisations is not simply the increase itself, but the lack of long-term pricing certainty. Without clear visibility on future pricing, organisations face greater difficulty planning communications strategies, budgeting for campaigns and determining how to balance digital and physical channels.
“What many organisations are struggling with is the absence of clear long-term forecasting from Australia Post,” Vaughan says.
“When postage prices change frequently or without a clear multi-year outlook, it creates instability for organisations that rely on mail to communicate with their customers.
While it’s encouraging that Australia Post has responded to feedback and published indicative pricing for FY28 and FY29 —the question remains: how accurate will this be?
Our own mail volumes continue to grow year on year, which suggests that not all postal products are in decline.”
A Changing Communications Landscape
The structural decline in overall letter volumes presents real challenges for the postal sector.
However, for many organisations, physical mail remains an important component of their communications mix — particularly where reliability, compliance or engagement are key considerations.
Vaughan notes that while the role of mail is evolving, it remains relevant.
“Mail continues to play an important role in how many organisations communicate,” he says.
“The key issue for many businesses, government agencies and not-for-profits is ensuring they have enough certainty around costs to plan their communications effectively.”
For organisations that continue to rely on mail, the issue is no longer just cost — it’s certainty.
As Richard Vaughan highlights, without reliable long-term forecasting, pricing will remain a source of instability.