From Legacy to Leadership:Redefining the Post Office for a New Era
A legacy network built for letters must now serve a nation shaped by new expectations. Reimagining Australia’s post office network to stay relevant, responsive, and rooted in community.
Australia Post is one of the country’s most recognisable and trusted institutions, operating a vast national network of over 4,000 post offices and serving millions of Australians across cities, suburbs, and remote communities. But as letter volumes decline and digital communication becomes the norm, the post office’s traditional role is being challenged. A system designed to move paper now faces an identity crisis. In urban areas, the post office must reevaluate its role in a digital-first world, while in rural and remote communities, it remains a lifeline — providing trusted access to services, information, and connection where few alternatives exist. These two realities highlight the need for a renewed purpose, ensuring Australia Post continues to serve all Australians in meaningful, modern ways.
CraigWalker was engaged by Australia Post to help address this challenge. Through deep research, strategic insight, and design-led thinking, the project set out to reimagine the purpose of the post office and explore what this national infrastructure could become in a rapidly changing Australia. Without bold action, the post office risked becoming irrelevant to the people it was created to serve.
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The project in numbers
5Phase research framework
3Key strategic directions
21Future service concepts
Reimagining Australia Post from the Ground Up
To reimagine the role of the post office, CraigWalker began by immersing deeply in the lived experiences of those who use and operate the network every day. The approach included fieldwork at 25 post office locations across a mix of urban centres, suburban neighbourhoods, regional towns, and remote communities, along with interviews involving over 120 people, including customers, frontline staff, and internal stakeholders. This was supported by a market scan of global postal innovation and a review of Australia Post’s own internal strategies and structures. By identifying the gaps between Australia Post’s goals and how the network is experienced in practice, and surfacing common themes across diverse communities, the team built a holistic understanding of how the network functions and where it falls short. These insights shaped a new vision for how the post office could remain relevant and responsive to modern Australian life, setting the stage for a redefined role that aligns with the evolving needs of communities across the country.
Reimagined. Redefined. Ready.
The outcome of the project was a bold, future-facing vision for Australia Post — one that balances national scale with local relevance. Rooted in real experiences and needs, the work delivered a set of 21 service concepts, 7 guiding principles, and an overarching strategic framework to support transformation across the entire network. These outcomes weren’t just ideas; they were practical and flexible tools, designed to drive change now and evolve with Australia Post into the digital future. Brought to life through immersive storytelling, video, and design artefacts, the vision redefines what the post office can be in the everyday lives of people across the country. With a renewed sense of purpose and a clear direction forward, Australia Post is now equipped to evolve with confidence and remain meaningful in a rapidly changing world.
