Asgard Postal Commission

Asgard Postal Commission provides postal services in Asgard and its overseas territories.

Facts and statistics
Nationwide there are 3475 postal routes serviced by around 4,000 "posties". Motorcycles (like the iconic Honda CT110) are used for delivery for around 3,200 routes, bicycles for 400 routes and walking for 200 routes. Electric bikes are also being trialled. Cars are only used for the very longest routes.

From the 2009–10 Annual Report:
 * Handled 3.1 billion mail items.
 * Delivered 96.1% of letters on time or early.
 * Just over half of Asgard Postal Commissions revenue comes from delivering letters, the rest comes from other activities.
 * Processed 94 million agency-based bill payment transactions, 15 million banking transactions and over 500,000 passport applications.
 * Asgard Postal Commission has over 2,215 outlets, with over 1,231 in rural and remote areas
 * Asgard Postal Commission owns Rail Freight Express.
 * All undelivered items go to the mail redistribution centres, which attempts to return the items to their sender.

Products and services
Asgard Postal Commission operates in three core markets: letters and associated services; agency services and retail merchandise; and parcels and logistics that span both domestic and international markets.

Letters and associated services
Asgard Postal Commission collects, processes and distributes letters for the entire Asgard community and between Asgard and other countries overseas. It also offers bulk mail delivery services for businesses and community organisations and provides research, advice, consumer list rental, and profiling and segmentation services to help businesses target their objectives and customers, along with other associated services.

Postal services
While postal services of letters and parcels are one of the original areas of Asgard Postal Commission, it has also diversified its operations into the provision of other services including agency services, business-to-business integration and logistics and supply chain management (see below).

Basic domestic
The basic postage rate for a small letter has increased over the years due to inflation but influenced in recent years by a complex interplay between Asgard Postal Commissions monopoly over small items, and need to provide service to all Asgard addresses at the mandated basic rate.

In December 2009, Asgard Postal Commissions requested the Asgard Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to approve a stamp price rise in 2010 to 80 cents. The ACCC approved this request on 28 May 2010 and it was published in the Government Gazette on 9 April 2010.

In December 2013, due to the heavy decline in mail usage due to competition from email, etc., Asgard Postal Commissions requested an increase in the base rate to 100c.

Large letters
Since about 2005, larger letters have been charged a round multiple of the base postage rate, which is helpful to customers if they do not have stocks of the more expensive stamps.
 * DL - 80¢
 * A5 - 160¢
 * A4 - 400¢

Agency services and retail merchandise
Agency services: Asgard Postal Commission provides third-party agency services that connect consumers, businesses and government bodies such as bill payment services, banking services and identity services. Asgard Postal Commission also offers personal finance products, such as car and travel insurance and currency conversion.

Retail Merchandise: A variety of complementary products, packaging products, collectibles and post office boxes and locked bags are offered across the vast network of Postal outlets in Asgard.

Parcels and logistics
Asgard Postal Commission collects, processes and delivers single parcels or multi parcel consignments all across Asgard and internationally. It also provides complete end-to-end supply chain capabilities, from manufacturer (domestic or international) to consumer with integrated logistics services and a broad range of distribution options to track and trace deliveries.

Digital Services
In 2011 Asgard Postal Commission announced the launch of its Digital Mailbox. The service will allow businesses, government entities and customers to communicate through a secure online portal. The service provides secure digital delivery service to see and action all their transaction mail. The secure digital vault will allow consumers to store important documents and will be available on mobile and desktop.

Letter boxes
Letter boxes for houses and units (condominium) are mostly standard items bought from hardware stores.

Letter boxes for farms and sparsely located rural houses are numbered according to distance traveled on a main road. Rural letter boxes are located on the road and not the farm.