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Following extensive community consultation throughout 2023 and early 2024, the Australian Government’s reforms to the Australian Postal Corporation (Performance Standards) Regulations 2019 came into effect on 15 April 2024.

The Regulations were amended in response to the significant and continued decline in letter sending, allowing Australia Post to operate more efficiently and in line with customer demand. These changes are outlined below.

Regular letter delivery frequency

The delivery of regular letters will occur every second business day (rather than every business day). To make this change we’ve adjusted how posties deliver mail each day. This new delivery model is being progressively rolled out at our facilities across Australia through to the end of 2025. Read about our new way to deliver (PDF 496kB).

There will be no changes to delivery arrangements for regional, rural and remote communities that are currently serviced less than five days per week.

Regular letter delivery timeframes

There are new timeframes for the delivery of letters across Australia. Estimated delivery timeframes for regular letters have increased by an additional business day across Australia.

For example, a regular letter posted in metropolitan Brisbane to the Gold Coast will be delivered within an estimated 3-4 business days, compared to 2-3 business days previously. See the updated regular letter timeframes.

Changes to priority letters

Priority letters are no longer subject to the performance standards in the postal regulations, but are still faster than the regular letter service. Priority letters will continue to be delivered every business day. The estimated delivery timeframes for priority letters have increased by one business day in most cases. See the updated the updated priority letter timeframes.

Business letter and bulk mail customers should refer to our revised PreSort (PDF 181kB) and Print Post (PDF 85kB) timetables.

The preparation and lodgement process for letters remains the same and there are no other changes to regular or priority letter products.

Geographical classification data

The geographic classification of Australia Post retail outlets has been updated based on more modern census data, rather than the 1991 Census data previously used.

More accurate data will support Australia Post with the monitoring and planning we do every day to respond to customer needs, identify trends and support our network.

Future areas of focus

Separate to the changes to the performance regulations, in December 2023 the Government confirmed it would work with Australia Post to develop a pricing oversight mechanism that will give Australia Post and consumers more certainty about postage costs over a longer-term price path. Work is continuing on the development of this measure.

For more information:

Thank you for your feedback

The initial reforms which came into effect from 15 April 2024 were informed through a consultation process that first commenced in March 2023 and concluded in February 2024. Thank you to each of our stakeholders and community members who took the opportunity to have their say.

Read more about the Government’s approach towards postal services modernisation.

Frequently Asked Questions

For an individual house or business, regular letters will be delivered every second business day. For example, Monday, Wednesday and Friday the first week, and Tuesday and Thursday the next. Households and businesses will continue to receive delivery of priority letters, parcels and Express Post every business day.

Any mail due for delivery on a public holiday is delivered the following business day.

You can find out the estimated delivery timeframes between two locations for letters and parcels by using our postage calculator. Please note, letters may be delivered earlier than calculated in some areas as delivery model changes are progressively rolled out across the country until December 2025.

An additional day has been added to the estimated delivery timeframes for regular letters nationally. In most cases, an additional day has been added to the estimated delivery timeframes for priority letters.

No. By changing the way we deliver letters we can better focus on what matters most to Australians: flexible and more reliable parcel deliveries and enhanced tracking technology.

We have been delivering letters for Australians for more than 200 years. For as long as letters continue to be sent, we will deliver them. However, the way people communicate and use postal services has changed significantly over the past few decades due to increased digitisation. We’re changing how we deliver so we can keep pace with the needs of our customers and communities.

No. Updates to Post Office classification will allow us to plan our network more accurately. There are no changes to the services provided at Post Offices as a result of these changes.