It's inevitable: Australian mailboxes will eventually only receive letters every third day.
An average of two are being delivered weekly, almost almost all of them are corporate mail and those numbers are sliding, according to AusPost chief executive Paul Graham.
"As we see mail decline, we believe it's inevitable that we'll need to move to every third day and beyond," he told AAP.
"The time frame for that is unknown because it will depend on how quickly it declines but that will certainly be a topic we will be taking up with the government post the election."
The commonwealth-owned postage service notched up almost $250 million in first half pre-tax profit, up from $33.6 million the previous year, thanks largely to its parcels and services businesses.
More than $4 billion of its $5 billion in revenue came from parcels and services and a record 102.8 million packages were delivered in 2024.
Driving efficiencies in the money-losing letter delivery business was also key to the organisation's Post26 strategy, Mr Graham said.
A 30 cent increase in the basic postal rate to $1.50, modernisation reforms and a shift to second-day delivery helped cut letter delivery losses more than 54 per cent to $83.7 million for the half year.
"As we are seeing globally, letters volumes are falling and this is expected to continue at pace," he said.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is considering an AusPost proposal for a further 20c hike but letter delivery isn't expected to return to profitability.
Parcels on the other hand have boomed since the COVID-19 pandemic, with ongoing living-cost pressures pushing shoppers towards online discounts.
Australia Post parcels revenue is up $3.53 billion, or more than 6 per cent, on last year's first half.
However the service's position in the booming and highly competitive parcel market is not assured as nimble entrants jostle for position.
Global platform players, gig economy operators and low-tech and low-cost entrants have been chiselling at its customer base and market share.
"That's, you know, the thing that certainly keeps us awake at night," Mr Graham said.
"Competition is intensifying and our traditional revenue streams are shrinking."
Playing to its strengths, AusPost spent $185 million on new parcel-focused facilities over the half and is aggressively expanding its parcel locker services and trialling package-only outlets.
"We're a marathon here but we need to run fast," Mr Graham added.
"Making sure we take our stakeholders on that journey with us, both communities, customers, as well as the government of the day, because they will need to step up and understand the need for further reform."
