The Airlie Beach Post Office was nearly forced to close in September 2008 when the site lease expired. Lease negotiations for Airlie Beach continued after a July lease expired, but only for a three month extension. It now appears a further lease extension has been arranged, but as at late October 2008, Post Office staff could not say what was happening.

The Airlie Beach Post Office is centrally located in the main street, Shute Harbour Road, near parking at Magnum's Whitsunday Village. Australia Post had 15 applications for calls for tenders from other businesses to operate the Airlie Beach Post Office as an franchise agency. Tenders for the franchise agency closed 8 August 2008. The future of the purpose built Post Office (less than ten years old) remains uncertain, with Australia Post unable to say where it will move to.

Australia Post already have a 13 year old franchised Post Office at the Cannonvale shopping centre. Popular long time licensee Mike Porter sold his license on 1 July 2008, and will officially hand over to Australia Post on 6 October 2008. The Cannonvale Post Office, although physically small, already has around 1000 Post Office boxes in use. The official Post Office may be forced to move to the even smaller Cannonvale Post Office.

Airlie Beach Post Office has 1673 Post Office Boxes for mail delivery. There is already a waiting list for more PO Boxes.

With only a little over 20% of all dwellings in Airlie Beach being private homes, most people live in apartments or at resorts. The Post Office do not deliver mail to all of these resort apartments. Australia Post have very strict requirements for home delivery mail boxes, which many resorts would have problems meeting.

For example, there is no mail delivery to Whitsunday Terraces Resort, as it was constructed without street mail boxes, or even appropriate spaces to retrofit mail boxes. According to a resident, the same problem applies to Martinique Resort, and probably many apartments in Golden Orchid Drive, a resort only street only one block away from the Airlie Beach Post Office.