Yes, some of our prices are changing

It goes without saying that no-one’s going to be overly happy when prices go up, after all who wants to pay more for something? But sometimes it just can’t be avoided and that’s the position we’re in at New Zealand Post right now. Every business person understands the very simple equation that you need to charge people enough for your product to cover the costs involved in producing and delivering it.

And those costs can not only change, but those changes are sometimes out of your control. That’s the economic reality that’s facing us at New Zealand Post. Not only have we seen a decline in the amount of mail being delivered, but we’re delivering it to more mailboxes than ever. That means we’re delivering 20% less mail per mailbox than three years ago. Add in increasing fuel costs and this position is just not sustainable. We’ve already managed to strip out $30million from our costs in the last year, but that still hasn’t been enough to prevent the need for these changes.

And so, we are having to increase some of our prices. For example, from 1 October the RRP for a Standard Post medium letter stamp will go from 50cents to 60 cents (this includes the increase in GST that will apply from then too). Not all our prices are going up, for example the RRP for ParcelPost Postage Included Bags will remain unchanged and the GST increase will be absorbed.

And remember, if you have KiwiStamp postage stamps or Postage Included Envelopes which you’ve bought at the current prices, they can still be used after the increases take place without the need for any additional postage to be added.

Leaflets detailing the changes are being sent to households and box holders next week and we’re writing to our business customers to explain the changes and also to remind people to check that they are using our most cost effective services for them.

You can check out full details of all the upcoming price changes here.

Presenteeism

There is so much in the news at the moment about sick days and absenteeism and the cost it has on businesses. Today I came across a new word 'presenteeism' which apparently refers to the issues that occur when sick employees still turn up to work in the belief that they will either get into some sort of trouble for not being there, or that they are so vital to the running of the business that they cannot be absent.

It's all rather timely as I am currently sitting at home in my slippers, wrapped up warm and surrounded by tissue boxes and hot lemon drinks as I try to fight off flu like symptoms. I'm sure my colleagues are grateful I'm not in the office coughing and spluttering my germs at them!

And funnily enough I've got through just as much work, if not more, as I would have done had I been in the office. Granted, some meetings have had to be shifted around, but with access to my emails there is very little I haven't been able to make progress on.

Hopefully with one day at home, I'll be in a much better position to return to work tomorrow.

How does your business manage when you or your employees are sick - would you prefer people to come in or stay away? Let us know your thoughts and any tips or advice you have on how to handle this situation.

You can also check out this article on presenteeism.

The Global Game

What a game this morning! Granted there were a lot of yellow cards, but well done Spain in becoming World Champions for at least the next four years.

Amongst the on-field spectacle, South Africa 2010 has shown that football deserves its title as the global game. The World Cup brings people together from all over the world and this was a truly international event.

As you know New Zealand Post delivers all over the world and I wonder what items might be in the mail following the recent World Cup action.

I’m sure there’ll be a few Vuvuzelas flying around after their rise to international fame during the tournament. There’s also the inevitable letters of congratulations (and commiserations). You may like to congratulate the All White’s on their stellar group stage run, or console the English team after their early exit.

I’d personally like to send this week’s Lotto ticket to Paul the Octopus. The guy has an unbelievable record when it comes to picking winners and he even picked Spain for the final.

Thanks for all your comments on how to stay awake during the games. Hopefully, you can all now get some sleep. Although I’ve just been told it’s only six weeks until the English Premier League starts again.

You have to be in to win

We all like to win things. Winning makes us smile. It makes us feel good. We don’t have to win big money on Lotto (although it would be nice) to feel happy – a box of chocs in a raffle or a book of stamps in a redline™ competition will do the trick.

We’ve now drawn the winners of all the competitions in the last issue of redline™ and we’re certain we’ve put a few smiles on faces this week.

Dhansukhlal Dayaram of Bayview Superette, as the lucky winner of our Apple iPhone competition, should be feeling super good. Congratulations!

So, too, should Julie Mackey of Dress for Success Inc. She wins a one-on-one business session with social media marketing expert, John Buckley.

Meanwhile, we hope the following will be pleased with their prizes. Copies of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day by Dave Evans go out to:

• Szilvia Boda of Baby Breatheasy Ltd
• Alice Baillie of SelectaDNA (NZ) Ltd
• Patrick Yeung of Linkage Travel Ltd
• Sarah Bate of Media Matters & Associates
• Penny Millen of Naturally Enterprises Ltd

And we hope the winners of our ParcelPost™ competition will be chuffed with their pack of 10 ParcelPost™ Postage Included Bags (worth $50.00). Well done to:

• Chris Melles of Telecom
• Angela Torrie of Acreage Contracting
• Debbie Kilmartin
• Courtney Seymour
• Renee Palmer of Bearing Wholesale

We’ve got some more GREAT giveaways in the next issue of redline™. It’s due out in August so make sure you enter our competitions. Remember, you can only win if you’re in!