My recent post on Australia Post certainly struck a chord with many readers...both here in Australia and overseas. It seems like many of us suffer poor service and pay high rates for it at that! And some of us have stories of mail going astray.
Not long after I published that post, Vireya sent me a link to a news service with an article about Australia Post. A report on salaries of AP Executives had been released publically despite opposition by AP hierarchy.
What a coincidence that I should write a post about AP ( and it's price hikes and poor service) at about the same time that details of the salary of the CEO of AP should have been made public.
Yep! The CEO receives a salary of $4.4 million plus a bonus of $1.2 million. He receives 10 times the salary of our Prime Minister and 119 times the salary of the postal workers...except those 5 executives of AP who receive $1.8 p/a. So there you go...and they said that AP is making losses and prices had to go up????
NannaChel commented that she could remember 2 postal deliveries per day Monday to Friday and one on Saturdays. And I can remember that too...but it seems so long ago. After reading Chel's comment I remembered an item that had belonged to DH's mother. I guess it's a family heirloom...and at present, DH is the 'keeper' of my MiL's treasures.
It is a postcard...
It is dated 1909...
The postcard was sent from Brisbane city to the suburb of Kangaroo Point...not a great distance, but then again in 1909 Brisbane wasn't very big and roads weren't the best.
The postcard was written by DH's great aunt, who at 16 years old worked in the city. She wrote the message to her mother in the morning and the card was delivered in the afternoon of the same day. yep! Same day! Great Aunt Ethel wanted to let her mother know that if she wasn't home by 8pm, she had gone to see a play.
Now in light of the present day era of phones, mobile phones and emails it may not sound impressive, but to me it was amazing!
Just a few more details about that 1909 postcard...the photo on the front is of the Toowoomba Hospital. Even though after Federation in 1901 and the setting up of the Post Master General's department to oversee postal and telegraph services, the stamp on the postcard is issued by the Queensland government. It wasn't until 1911 that the federal government issued stamps. In 1911, Aussies could send a letter anywhere in Australia for 1 penny.
So there we have a bit of history.
Not long after I published that post, Vireya sent me a link to a news service with an article about Australia Post. A report on salaries of AP Executives had been released publically despite opposition by AP hierarchy.
What a coincidence that I should write a post about AP ( and it's price hikes and poor service) at about the same time that details of the salary of the CEO of AP should have been made public.
Yep! The CEO receives a salary of $4.4 million plus a bonus of $1.2 million. He receives 10 times the salary of our Prime Minister and 119 times the salary of the postal workers...except those 5 executives of AP who receive $1.8 p/a. So there you go...and they said that AP is making losses and prices had to go up????
NannaChel commented that she could remember 2 postal deliveries per day Monday to Friday and one on Saturdays. And I can remember that too...but it seems so long ago. After reading Chel's comment I remembered an item that had belonged to DH's mother. I guess it's a family heirloom...and at present, DH is the 'keeper' of my MiL's treasures.
It is a postcard...
It is dated 1909...
The postcard was sent from Brisbane city to the suburb of Kangaroo Point...not a great distance, but then again in 1909 Brisbane wasn't very big and roads weren't the best.
The postcard was written by DH's great aunt, who at 16 years old worked in the city. She wrote the message to her mother in the morning and the card was delivered in the afternoon of the same day. yep! Same day! Great Aunt Ethel wanted to let her mother know that if she wasn't home by 8pm, she had gone to see a play.
Now in light of the present day era of phones, mobile phones and emails it may not sound impressive, but to me it was amazing!
Just a few more details about that 1909 postcard...the photo on the front is of the Toowoomba Hospital. Even though after Federation in 1901 and the setting up of the Post Master General's department to oversee postal and telegraph services, the stamp on the postcard is issued by the Queensland government. It wasn't until 1911 that the federal government issued stamps. In 1911, Aussies could send a letter anywhere in Australia for 1 penny.
So there we have a bit of history.
That postcard is an amazing bit of history!
ReplyDeleteThe salary seems surreal doesn't it - just how much money do people need - I know I would feel guilty being paid that amount! I can also remember 2 deliveries a day in the lead up to christmas to cope with the amount of mail being sent and received. It has all certainly changed.
ReplyDeleteI remember good mail service but not as good as this postcard represents. It's interesting how the mail service (in my country) has gone from extremely efficient to extremely inefficient. Our post office execs are also paid ridiculously high wages that are hard to justify. Our local post offices don't even remove the snow and/or ice on the post office sidewalk and steps. lol
ReplyDeleteThat salary is absolutely ridiculous! I suppose it comes from the taxpayers' pockets, too.
ReplyDeleteOur post is run by the government. To the best of my knowledge the Postmaster General's salary is about $300,000 a year plus a pension that could push it up to more than $900,000. Honestly, I think our postal service in the USA is pretty good, but they say it is losing money due to electronic mail. A first class letter costs .49 postage for the first ounce. Personally, there are a lot of things I can complain about going on in the USA right now, but the postal service is not one of them. I can only hope King Donald does not have his sight on it to "improve" it.
ReplyDeletexx, Carol
I may have enjoyed history more coming from you!!
ReplyDeleteLove the above reference to King Donald!!!
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ReplyDelete