Australia Post what has happened ?

[Gerald Sargent]

Until a couple weeks ago I could say that in 38 years I
had never had any post, internation or otherwise go
astray, then a registered parcel from Brisbane to an
adress just to the orth goes missing and two parcels
from the US do the same.
What has really thrown the spanner is that it would
appear that there are no en-route checks of registered
post, in theory it is "scanned" in at the first "processing
Centre" - which it seems does not get done, and then is
"signed for" when delivered, what happens between the
two event is just :not known/tracable.

[Starkler]

Good question.

I'm still waiting on a package from an Ice trade classified sale Im told was sent 3 weeks ago.

[peter andre]

Same happened to me last month! AEC in South Australia sent me a Takahashi Ocular ($280) and that has gone missing. AEC has send me another one, which thankfully turned up after being two week in transit.
We are still talking to Aust. Post about the disapearence of the first EP, which was sent to me over Three weeks ago!!
what's gone wrong? perhaps privatisation.
cheers
:)

[Suzy_A]

A while ago I sent something by registered mail - it arrived at the destination after a couple of weeks - soaked in oil and wrapped in a plastic bag...

But private business often isn't much better. I bought a camera lens over the Internet from New York. It was sent by UPS - 3 days from NY to Perth (30,000 km); 5 days, three phone calls and three emails to get from Perth to Fremantle (30 km).

[AlexN]

Thats amazing isnt it Suzy.. How something can come half way round the world faster than it can go for a merry drive around the block (so to speak.)

[IanL]

I can buy something from the US and it will be delivered to Brisbane quicker than something from South Australia.

I checked the local post office to send something via Australia post and got a shock at the amount they wanted just to go to SA. I was going to go with it until I asked about insurance. Yes we can insure it but if it gets lost or damaged then it not our fault the girl said. Well why am I paying insurance on it then? The girl could not answer my question!


Ian

[GrahamL]

I have noticed of late gerald that international orders that WE pay a premium price for are often just found at the door .


As for aus post and registered post ... well what used to happen
was registered mail was treated very differant to ordinary mail at each
forwarding point it was signed in and balanced against a desptatching invoice from the previous transit point .. and it arrived seperately and was processed first as the customer had paid for that service ..while this didn't actaually take a long time out of your day it was a MUST get right within your mail handling .We used to proceess 50 /60 kg of gold a week from some customers and often the ashes of deceased loved ones so you could not stuff this up ..and the the paperwork attached assured you couldn't ..as each step was so regulated .

Today ?? .. I think its just a sticker on a package that needs a signiture
buy your insurance guys !!..and cross the fingers

[Miaplacidus]

I have no bad anecdotes, fortunately. And I don't feel strongly about defending the postal service (don't know anyone who works there, although I'm sure there a lots of nice, hard working folk behind the scenes).

But... I guess they are also confronted by rising petrol costs. And when was the last time they increased the price of stamps? They must be having to cut costs somewhere, I spose.

Anyone out there working for Aus Post who can tell us if systems are straining????

[coldspace]

I sent an express post from Brissy to WA with documents and photo's and it never showed up. They are still looking for it and no one can give me an answer. The way the governments keep getting rid of our utilities,no wonder this sort of thing happen, looks like we are all in for some bad service in the future.

Matt.

[madtuna]

It's pretty cold and heartless to send a loved ones ashes through the post. Not that that is the fault of Aust post and I feel for the poor mailmen who have to deliver them.

My daughter answered a knock at the door last week and the poor postie handed her her mothers ashes.

The experience of having her mum turn up in a little box in the mail has affected her in a way that no kid should have to go through and I can not thank the postie enough for the way he stayed with and comforted my daughter until I got there.

[GrahamL]

yes it was a big shock to me the first time I handled this very important
package ...I found its not uncommon though ..often loved ones arn't able to make the service of a distant relative .. and the director fowards on the ashes at the relatives request..from memory ashes were never outsourced to contracters or general delivery ..though i dont know how thats changed?

[mark3d]

those 3 day deliveries from overseas are expensive.. its a courier service. you cant compare it to postal parcel delivery.

having said that of course packages shouldnt go missing.

[Ian Robinson]

Touching wood .... I've had no problems with AusPost so far.

Bit slow to arrive though.

[Outbackmanyep]

I just got back from my post orifice TODAY after i went in to investigate a package that i hadn't received since it was sent to me 3 weeks ago.
They asked me what PO Box number, i told them, then they produced my package!

They had "forgotten" to leave me a parcel pick-up slip in my PO Box.

I asked them how long it had been sitting there for and they told me they they didn't know!

Might be better to go into to post office and ASK them are there any packages delivered for your address or PO Box that hadn't been picked up yet.......

[StarLane]

What are you talking about??

Just because petrol prices and other costs rise doesn't mean they don't have to deliver on a service we are paying for.
"Cut costs somewhere" yeah, not delivering our packages is cutting costs. Cutting costs regarding staff is also a big reason why so many packages are going missing of late.
I have had numerous regular mail packages go missing, three express post articles go missing, and a registered post article go missing and when you call them they simply don't care and don't want to know. They pass the buck all the time, say it's not their fault, it was a sub-contractors mistake etc etc, get you to fill out official complaint forms, but all this still doesn't get the parcel to you.

Lately I've been using a courier with not a drama at all. Normally if you get bad service from a particular company you take your business elsewhere, with Aus Post being the only postal service in Australia, the only other option is a courier, the price is similar....
The cost of registered post and insurance has risen three times recently, and the service is still not up to scratch. I feel for you guys who have had parcels go missing recently or are waiting anxiously for one to arrive, been there done that. I hope the out come is better than mine. Aus Post is the most frustrating company I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.
This is how I feel and I am entitled to my own opinion.:mad2:

[Miaplacidus]

Hi Paul,

Obviously many customers are having a problem with Australia Post. Clearly many people think the service is worse than in the past. I was just hoping to learn from someone who might actually know if this is indeed true. You know, a fact. Er, like, statistically. As opposed to just relying on anecdote. (It's one of those scientific concepts astronomers sometimes use. Don't worry about it.)

If it is true, I was also hoping someone out there might be able to explain why. (I call this concept learning. The object of the exercise is a thing called enlightenment. From here, foolishly perhaps, a tiny enclave of individuals assume you can make intelligent decisions about one's future actions. Again, don't get too stressed by it.)

Love the passion, BTW.



I thought about disputing this curious yawp, but that cute little red faced emoticon at the end of the sentence simply compels acquiescence.

Clear skies to you!

[StarLane]

Yep, plenty of passion here. When you've had as many parcels go missing as I have, it's easy to get passionate about my feelings regarding this company.

When I hear it's still happening and on a regular basis, it disappoints me even more, and I get wound up when someone tries to defend them, sorry for the hot head.
Parcels going missing seems to be a regular thing with Aus Post and they don't seem to be improving their service, it fact it's getting worse, there is something definitely wrong there. Insurance also means nothing, as one of the posters early on in this thread has said, they will not accept responsibility so as a result, they will not pay. I certainly never received anything from my missing articles, no explanation, even the one with insurance, just lost money. What can be done but complain????????

[Dennis]

Just to buck the trend, I despatched a parcel, via Australian Post parcel service, on Monday, from Brisbane to Homebush (Sydney). Today (Wednesday) I was relieved to get an e-mail from the recipient letting me know that it had arrived, safe and sound!

Phew, I was sweating for a while there, after having read this thread.

Cheers

Dennis

[StarLane]

Glad to hear they are doing their job for some people Dennis........

[cpoc]

Also just to add some alternative info. I used to work for Aus Post (quite a few years ago now) in a business centre (so perhaps different quality of service). There used to be a little book (may still be) that has estimated delivery times to basically all destinations. This book told us that mail to England would generally take up to two weeks... yet it was not uncommon for a customer to come in and tell us it had arrived within about one week.
My theory is that delivery times vary depending on location... I know that for my parents in Tasmania (Devenport specifically) it takes about ten days to send or receive and item from here in Melbourne... this is partly due to the mail being proccessed in Hobart (who knows why Aus Post deemed it better to send mail down the far end of the state when the ship comes in generally every day... though perhaps that's another cost issue).

But... I do need to add that sometimes the reason parcels go missing or what have you is not at all the postal services fault. One of the most important things you can ever do when posting an item is put a return address... this is your best course of protection on any item... at least then if it can't reach its destination it can be returned to sender.
This then goes to the second most important (or first most important depending on your perspective) suggestion... and that is to make absolutely certain you have the correct address on the front and that it is written clearly. It's all very well if you can read your own hand writing on the cover of a letter or parcel... but if it requires a medical degree for anyone else to read it, it's useless.

Having said all this... I am not saying people's parcels going missing are their own fault or anything like that... just trying to help reduce the issues raised when posting... and in all probability it is a case of outsourcing. Many parcel deliveries now are done by individuals contracted to Aus Post (you may see the ads requesting them in the paper at times)... these people clearly are not under quality control as I have had items just left by the door or in some cases a little red pick up slip left in the letter box when I was at home... ie no atempt to see if I was here and could receive the item directly. But the majority of my mail does arrive... and considering the enormous volume of mail Australia Post handles it is (believe it or not) understandable that some errors will be made. Let's just hope that more checks and balances get put in place to reduce the number of errors.

[TrevorW]

I stopped having parcels sent to my home address because AP posties would leave things on the door step (why did they assume that was a safe thing to do). Everything is now sent to my work address and arrives OK every time.(touch wood)

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Lee]

If my parents send a parcel to me from Brisbane, it always (4-5 times now) takes over a week to get to me in Newcastle. I ordered an amplifier kit from the US last week.... delivered in 6 days.

[Dujon]

I feel that I must leap in here to defend AustraliaPost. I have been using the services of AP for about 20 years with periods of light activity and others of heavy usage (for a one man operation). Obviously I can write only subjectively but, nevertheless, I have nothing but praise for the efficiency of the organisation.

In those 20 years (I'm talking hundreds and hundreds of parcels) I have had 1 (yes, one) article go astray. If memory serves I'm pretty sure that it is the only item on which I needed to instigate a trace. On investigation the reason for that unfortunate situation became clear when the addressee admitted that they (a company) had moved premises two years prior to the transaction and had given me their old address! In such a situation I think that one can only blame the person delivering the package and not the system.

I feel duty bound though to add that I have had unregistered (i.e. untracked) items go astray - although I do wonder whether this was a ploy on the part of the recipients rather than an AP failure.

Incidentally, the advice I received from my local LPO indicated that 'Express Post' is not tracked and thus I always use registered mail for everything I send to my customers and charge the customer accordingly.

[glenc]

A book was posted to me from the Gold Coast on Friday the 18th. It still hasn't arrived. If it arrives today it will average 0.4km/hr!

[AdrianF]

A workmate as just had a letter delivered to him that was posted from Brisbane on 3rd Dec 2007, today is 30 July 2008 a total of 580k in close on 8 months. I had a package sent from Sydney overnight but a package I ordered from the states on the same day arrived first, a 7 day delivery.

Adrian

[bluescope]

I think that OZ Post went to crap when they started using contractors to do deliveries. It would appear that anyone who has a suitable vehicle can apply to deliver parcels for them nowadays, I've seen adverts to that effect ... I have also seen numerous non descript vehicles with non descript drivers picking up parcels ( bulk ) from our local post office for distribution. They are obviously not on a salary from OZ Post so probably cheaper alternative ... who cares about the customers seems to be the ethic these days. It's all about the bottom line.
Only today we had a card left in our mail box to go and pick up a parcel from the post office .... supposedly the person rang our bell and no answer .... actually nobody rang our bell it was probably raining heavily at the time and it was easier to drop a card in the box than do the job properly. This isn't the first time it has happened either.

:thumbsup:

[AdrianF]

An example of how Australia Post handles our mail. This letter took 9 days to go from Toowoomba to Roma (430k) and this is how it was delivered
Nice imprints of boot and tyre!

Adrian