Price of postage stamp rises

Australians will be required to pay around 40 percent more for a postage stamp as new costs for mail services rolled out on Monday. The cost of sending a regular letter in Australia has been raised from 70 cents (50 US cents) to one dollar in an effort to curb the shock loss that mail carrier Australia Post endured in 2014/15.

According to Australia Post's Michelle Skehan, the markup will not provide an instant turnaround of the company's fortunes as 'snail mail' continues to fall out of vogue in a rapidly expanding digital world.

"While the stamp price increase and services changes introduced today will reduce the losses, they will not return stamp mail to profit," Skehan said. "Mail volume continues to decline."