👉 Background: Australia Post has been delivering letters all around Australia since 1809. And for many many years, that has included daily letters in the mailbox. Think: a speeding fine, a land tax notice or possibly even a love letter.

👉 What happened: But as emails, texts and social media become our main source of communication, the digital letterbox has overtaken the physical one. Get this: The volume of letters sent in Australia is down by almost 67% since 2008. And as a result, five-day-a-week delivery led Australian Post to a $200 million loss last financial year.

👉 What else: Now, the government has allowed Australia Post to end the daily letter deliveries. This means new delivery standards, including regular letter deliveries only available every second day. And while Australia Post has been campaigning for a while, the government needed to give them permission.

What's the key learning?

💡Balancing community obligations and business viability is a financial tightrope for government-business enterprises, like Australia Post.

💡Government business enterprises have dual responsibilities:

• On the one hand, they are expected to operate like commercial entities, generate profit and ensure their own financial sustainability.
• On the other hand, they are bound by community service obligations like having a certain number of post offices in each region and delivering mail every day.

💡This caused Australia Post's letter division to lose $384 million last financial year. But it's not only them—Canada Post and UK's Royal Mail are both losing more than half a billion dollars each year.