New technology was a key part of the vision for a centralized and automated postal service. 

A local subsidiary of American Telecommunications company Plessey was commissioned to design and install computerized encoding and decoding machines to automate mail sorting. The company T.E.I. installed two machines at Redfern Mail Exchange in February 1966. It was at this point that it was announced that operators of the machines would be designated as Coding Machinists, would be women, and would be receiving female rates of pay. All of which went counter to advice received by the Union that the existing workforce of mail officers would operate the machinery, with no loss of staff. 

The implementation of the new systems was problematic, with strikes linked to pay and working conditions leading to chronic staff dissatisfaction and ongoing industrial disputes.