Hundreds of senior management and administrative staff will be let go at Australia Post after it confirmed it will cut 900 jobs over the next year.

Managerial, administrative, and support staff will bear the brunt of redundancies with most of the job losses to come from the postal service’s head office in Melbourne.

Australia Post CEO, Ahmed Fahour, on Tuesday said the cuts, while regrettable, were necessary for the postal service to remain sustainable with fewer letters and more parcels being delivered.

The savings from the job cuts will be less than the cost of its new services like extended trading hours and Saturday deliveries.

“By making these changes now, we can minimise the impact for our people, our broader workforce, our business and the community,” Fahour said in a statement on Tuesday.

The businesses need regulatory change otherwise pressure on the business and its workforce will be worse.

The company is still working out job cuts in other states but says it will be “small”.

Retail workers and posties will not be affected.

It plans to merge its retail and delivery businesses under the Australia Post brand while its parcel and express services businesses will fall under the StarTrack banner.

Unions were told of the job cuts concurrently with staff on Tuesday.