Post Office revenue down six per cent

Post Office revenue has dropped slightly, partly due to a fall in sales of souvenir stamps, Postmaster-General Robert Footman said yesterday.

He said postal revenue between April and August had dropped six per cent compared with last year.

The drop in revenue was mainly due to a decrease in business mail and less people buying souvenir stamps since the handover, he said.

Mr Footman said the drop in revenue would not hurt operations. Rates would continue to be frozen and no employees would be laid off.

The Post Office made $656 million from commemorative handover stamps within two weeks of the handover.

It sold $1.3 billion worth of commemorative stamps in 1996-97, 10 times the revenue in previous years.