Australia post - venting...

[En1gma]

Ok. So, I am officially sick and tired of Australia post right now... I really feel unsafe having auspost deliver my items.

Today was the last straw, so I intend to take matters further ( I work in shipping and auspost is one of my clients, so my next visit to them will be an interesting one :lol:)

I have always given them the benefit of the doubt as I work in the same industry. But ever since I have moved to a unit, I have only ever received 1 courier delivery. Even though I am home:confused2:. They don't even buzz, they just leave the good old card to pick up from the local po.

So, it did not bother me too much until today. I had ordered a oIII filter and was expecting delivery today. Ok, so I don't hear the buzzer, fair enough. They probably left a card in the mailbox. Take a quick stroll to the front, and guess what. They decided to stick my expensive delivery hanging out of the mailbox, FREE for anyone to take... That just pissed me right off...

Oh well, that's my vent for today.

So, tell me, does anyone else experience the same thing? Please make me happy and tell me your aus post horror stories..

Regards,
Robert

[mozzie]

wow carded all the time and the time they decide to leave its a filter and left half out of box!!!yes id be cranky too it would have been safer to go to post office and pick it up-- easy item to steal?????

[Octane]

Robert,

Yes, I've been living in this unit for 3 years now. They never walk inside, up the stairs and knock on the door. They automatically leave a card in the letterbox. It's annoying, but, what can you do?

H

[mswhin63]

Most couriers will not ring doorbells and this is a severe disadvantage for my wife as she is Deaf and can't here the door knocking. I installed a vibrating pager for the doorbell and most couriers wont use it.

I made a complaint to the Post Office and so far they are ringing the bell, but on occasions I have been home I still hear the door knock.

Put a sign under the doorbell is usually the best way. I may also put a sign on the door Video Surveillence installed. :)

[Kevnool]

The parcels in and out of QLD is shocking over a week to deliver.
Seems quicker from Hong Kong.

Yep good old AU Post gotta love them.

Cheers Kev.

[snowyskiesau]

My local mail contractor is excellent. Always rings the doorbell and knocks, giving me enough time to get to the door before driving off.
He always has time for a chat and comments if it's been a while between deliveries.
He's even been known to leave small items in a box I leave on the front verandah rather than leave a card, even though he shouldn't

And this is in suburban Sydney!

[AdrianF]

Not exactly aimed at Aust Post but the contractor who delivers for AP also delivers for the likes of FedEx. He delivered a package from the US addressed to me on 5th Oct at work but delivered it to another address and he can't remember where. It was signed for but the signature is illegible. Unless he can remember were it looks like I have lost the items in the package. I will be making a complaint to FedEx, Aust Post and the company I got the goods from. I am also peeved.

Adrian

[Alchemy]

Easy way to solve the problem, do as I do and get a P/O box. No one to Nick your hard earned goods, it all stays dry... Even in QLD. No you don't have the convenience but if you are away for a few days no probs, you can do registered mail and the iPad has a nice little tracking app so you know where that precious gear is.

[En1gma]

wow geoff. I want your contractor!!.

Glad I am not alone in this. It has got me thinking, if this how some areas are serviced, what is the point of paying for a high cost for a courier delivery?? Let alone no card and my item left for anyone to take. Normally I am very relaxed, but my street is a known area for Daily mail theft..

One of my mates is a contractor for Couriers Please, and unfortunately does the card drop for units. I can agree with him on one point that 9/10, they are not home. But this mentality has carried on which does not look good in the eye's of the public and receiver. He is more concerned on finishing his run as early as possible..

Well, this thursday, I am expecting a delivery for a Hydrogen alpha filter. Lets see what will happen to this one..

[En1gma]

Have already looked into this.. I am on the wait list for a PO box and have been ever since I have moved here almost 2 years now. Till now, All boxes in my area and work area are all taken..

Rob

[mill]

My wife is a AU post contractor and in defence of some things i have to say that sometimes they have to go up steep driveway's with a box of wine or loads of books.
Also she had it a couple of times that some guy comes to the door in his undies and that is not funny (she wont be going to the door anymore then and just leaves a card).
A lot of times she goes all out and does more than she has to do.
I also know that some write out cards even before they start driving :(
So there are good and bad posties/contractors.
People have their own demands also (like they dont want to pick up the package from a certain postoffice so the postie/contractor has to bring it somewhere else that is out of their way).
But in the end, leaving something hanging out of the postbox is a nono :confused:

[mill]

There is a small problem with PO boxes, some companies dont want to deliver to them (especially Ebay purchases :( ).

[Alchemy]

Then ive been lucky, got my flt132 delivered to it no probs...... Although the box was a wee bit small to fit it in, bintel have had no problems sending there, and am waiting on my Argo navis to be delivered soon.
It may not work for everything as you say, but I think it's a better option.
You will have to courier I think over 20 kgs as Aussie post don't go that heavy, but no ones refused to courier it to the P/O for me.

[En1gma]

Hi Martin, definitely agree with your points there. Hence why for the past 2 years I have been somewhat ok and let it pass.

But today's example just put me right off. I feel I just wasted $20 in an expected signed courier delivery. Not to mention a $250 purchase almost going down the drain.

[Alchemy]

Might be a problem in the city, but I live near a small country town, our road is a single lane dirt road, all the letter boxes are at the end of the road, exept mine as I have refused...... As a result I get a P/O box for less than $20 per year, because the postie won't deliver to my address,
Plus being a small town, people get to know you, have a bit of friendly chit chat, tell hem what new gadget I've bought, it's all good.... Pass on the city thing for me.

[Colin_Fraser]

I paid $1100 for a set of Vixen eyepieces. One day I came home from work and I noticed a bit of paper wedged in the gate post. It was a note to pick up a parcel at the post office. Anyone could of stole it.
I complained at the PO and they said "bloody contractors" then handed over my parcel without asking for any identification.

Next month I bought a Telrad. Delivery was prompt but because the parcel would not fit in my letterbox, they just dropped it over the fence.

That's a 100% failure rate!

[Alchemy]

I dunno that P/O box is looking pretty good to me.

[Roobi]

Hi guys, i work for aus post and have done for the last 8 yrs... not to say that i'm going to defend them, in fact I'l be doing just the opposite, and hopefully give you guys some advice in the process. Always, Alway get a tracking number or registered post.... It is illeagle for aus post or contractors to deliver registered post without obtaining a signiture, They can however deliver it to anyone at that address, If you ask for a 'person to person registered post', they cannot deliver the article without getting a signature only from the person it states, and they must get id when they do it. Unfortunatly, the contracted parcel guys are renowned for being really crap at their job (not all of them obviously, Just most) However, it is illegal for them to leave any article in and unsecure place (not including your mailbox). They must deliver it to the hand or the box. If it doesn't fit in the box, they must go to the door and if your not there, they card it. anything that is not a parcel, or small enough to be delivered to the mail box goes to the contractors, so please please if you see your postie, dont have a go at him about your parcel, coz chances are he's probably never even seen it. However if you see something stuffed in your mailbox and its half hanging out, thats counted unsecure, if it gets rained on it could be ruined or someone could just nick it (happens alot). My advice: Complain as soon as you find something wrong. The contractors or postie will get their butts kicked. AP have pretty high standards, but unfortunatly most people can't be bothered complaining. It's pretty much three warnings before an official investigation takes place for our rounds where they watch what we get and how we deliver.

I for one hate it when posties and parcel dudes do the wrong thing, coz it makes me look bad too.
Once again please complain, so we can weed these buggers out.

Hope this helps guys.

Cheers

[En1gma]

Good advise from roobi.

I'll be sending an official complaint or 2 for my parcels.

[[1ponders]]

Like Clive, I'm a single lane dirt road country home. My letter box is an old meter box and can hold a lot of mail and is well secured from the weather. My car is nearly always parked behind the letterbox when I'm home. In three years of receiving mail at this address I have never had a knock on the door or a toot of the horn (though I easily hear the courier drive up the road ). I've even approached him about it. His reply, sure np. Waste of time, its never happened. Its a 16 km round trip for me to the PO, if I'm already home. Add another 9 km on top of that if I have to come home from work first and find a card. And if we've had rain the night before, he doesn't deliver it at all, but waits til the road dries so he doesn't get red road dirt on his car. His excuse, "Oh the causeways were over because of the rain). We have to have more than 50mm of rain overnight before the first causeway goes under and more than 100 for them all to go under. I've spoken to the local postmaster about it. Basically he couldn't give a rats.

Oh and yes you can get AusPost to text or email you if you have a parcel, for around $90 a year.

[Roobi]

Yeah the texting is a waste of money. As slack as some employees are - especially the managers and supervisors unfortunatly i cant see them being real precise with the texting. Also a PO box is a waste of money IMO, make the posties do their job right, rather then paying because theyve peeved you off so much that you cant be bothered anymore.
Ring the aus post customer service hotline 13 POST (13 7678) to complain. They will give you a record nuber so make sure you keep it for future refrence, or you can write to the Customer Contact Channels, GPO Box 9911, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, not that theres much guarrantee that theyll get the letter, lol, but its always good to have a record of your complaints, keep at it too, it wont take long till you see results.

[Colin_Fraser]

Not from where I'm sitting. This thread contradicts your statement about having pretty high standards.:P

[AdrianF]

The company I purchased from would not send to PO Box. This company is Texas Instruments.

Adrian

[En1gma]

I for one can vouch for the high standard requirements as I do a bit of international business with them. - On the domestic situation, I can say posties are good. Its the contractors who are required to deliver large parcels etc.. (like a lot of astronomy items:lol:) and couriered items which give me the absolute sh*** when they do not do their job properly.

[Roobi]

lol good point, I meant to say, they have an expectation of high standards, and some of us follow them closely, unfortunatly a hell of a lot of employees don't. Personally i pride myself in good customer service, and will go out of my way if someone has a parcel or bulky item that is being delivered. I have two hours to deliver around 5 big city blocks and its alleys and arcades, and only one side, not both. Most of the time it only takes just over an hour so i have some time to go back if a shop isnt open when i pass it. I just catch the tram back up and deliver it instead of carding and making them walk to the po. Sometimes though people have a go at me for a parcel, I explain calmly to them that i don't actually do the parcels, but will look into it and ask my direct supervisor. I dont want some slack contractor making me look bad, so i make sure something gets done.

[mithrandir]

I just get everything delivered to the office. There is always someone on the dock to sign for packages, and they email me almost instantly to come and collect.

And "the accountant" doesn't hassle me about new toys being delivered.

[OICURMT]

go "Postal"? :rofl:

[Alchemy]

Ah yes...... Essential work material, nicely done.

[iceman]

When I went through a stage of getting a lot of deliveries, we got to know the Aus Post parcel man. He'd wave as my wife was walking the kids to school :)

[Ric]

Regarding companies and PO boxes I find if I ring them and explain that I live out of town and the the PO box is my security measure I find they are quite obliging. If they still say no I just tell them I'll be ordering from another company, they soon change their mind pretty quick.

My only vent with AP is that they always use to roll up AS&T despite it saying DO NOT BEND on the front. A quick chat with the local manager solved that problem.

As for our mail contractor, well he's just useless. We have three letter boxes at the top of our access road and he just puts it all in the one box and we have to sort our own mail.

[asimov]

Yep. I've had allsorts of problems with aussie post in the past. You name it, I've had it happen I think!

Where I am now though, things are different. I bailed up the delivery person & basically 'sweet talked' her..Now she delivers the parcels to my door with a smile. If I'm not home, she'll just try again the next day - No damned cards in the mail box!

[dugnsuz]

A big ditto on all points there Andrew !:lol:

[AdrianF]

I take it back concerning AusPost.
It turned out the contractor for Australian Air Express claims the package was undeliverable to the address on the box, although the address is quite plain to see and we are the only TAFE in Roma
His comment when contacted "how the hell am I supposed to Know where Roma TAFE is" duhhhh!

Adrian

[GrahamL]

Where I used to live the parcel contracters were pretty good
Though they did on occasion not bother trying to deliver items
and get the postman to deliver the card to pick up from the delivery office .. meaning they never came near your letterbox. :)

Since moving recently the new guys have been pretty slack
and to be honest it may be the post office itself rather than the contracters ...who knows .

I had a mount head broken a while back , old and cast , so no chance of buying another , I think the box got dropped from a fair height. A package from bintel a while back had been driven over .. I swear :)


I still remember my first evening shift in the post office in the early
80's.. when all the pencil pushers had gone home the superviser came over to me and said son I have an extremely important job for you .

Go down to the buffalo club round the corner with this money and buy half a carton of longnecks .:lol:

Buy insurance guys you never know what will happen :)

[Roobi]

Oh too true nightstalker, Definatly get insurance guys, or as i said registered post person to person. I have seen people play footy with parcels and throw them. Some people really dont care about what could be in the parcels.

[mill]

She might get in trouble over this one day because if the package isnt deliverable, it has to be carded and go back to the post office before closing time.
Contracters are NOT allowed to keep packages in posession after post office closing time.

[En1gma]

Update - regarding my delivery today

Yup - You guessed it - Exact same thing happened again (very similar packaging as they came from the same supplier)

Absolutely peeved off now..

Time to put in a formal complaint.

[Alchemy]

Well my Argo navis turned up in the post today, nice little card in the PO box, went in got a smile as they went to get my package, signed for it, walked out .... Too easy

Package not damaged, not wet, safe and secure.... Note the package was sent with insurance

[Sylvain]

Well on the contrary I have been pretty happy with my local contractor! They always walk up to the door, ring and give me enough time to come down. Really great!
However, I have been very pissed at couriers like FedEx and other TNT or DHL crap. These guys never bother stopping and never ring the bell. They just put the damn car in the letter box. Then you have the option of rescheduling delivery for the next day or wait 3 WORKING DAYS to go pick your stuff up from the airport!
The problem in rescheduling a delivery is that the exact same thing happen! They don't bother to ring the bell! So am I supposed to wait all day long outside sitting next to the letter box? (yes because we don't know around what time they'll be there either).
I now always make sure I avoid these couriers and ALWAYS use AustPost. At least if i'm not here or if I don't hear the bell, they leave a card and I can go pick up my item on the next day from my local post office. I don't have to wait 3 days AND drive to the airport. I have been very happy with them. Although I've on occasions had things hanging from the letter box and such, it has been very minor.

I reckon it is a very local issue: you either have good or bad delivery guys. I happen to be pretty lucky and have a pretty good guy who bothers to actually come to the door and ring.

[TrevorW]

This one an old one but I thought I'd resurrect it

Contact AP give them instructions that all deliveries that do not fit into the mail box are to be carded. We complained on several occassions and it now seems to work. They have a registery of sorts for this typoe of thing.

Complain we should do it more in everything otherwise we'll only get lousy service

The only gripe I have with AP is even an Express parcel can take a week to get from the East to WA and yet I can order from the states and receive an item in the same time span.

[FlashDrive]

Here's my Story.

Was home one day ( all day to ) and went to check the mail box ... and there it was ..Aust Post Card ... written on it .... please pick up article after 4.30pm today.

I never heard a " whistle " from the postie ( which is what they used to do ). So I go to the post office later and ask the staff ... do your posties only " card " the letter box now.

Answer: They are not allowed to get off their bikes ... so they put the card in the letter box.... So I left it at that.

Some day's later .... he I am sitting on my front veranda and lo and behold .. here comes the postie... I watch him as he places mail in my letter box ... and continues on his run.

I go check the mail... and guess what ... another " card " ... please pick up article ..etc...etc.
I jump in the car and found him a bit further down the road.

I pulled over and went to speak with him about my " card "
He says he used to " whistle " or go to the front door and knock .... but since a fellow " got up him " for waking him up ... he will only card the mail from then on.

I said ... it's all OK with me ...I won't bite your head off.
He politely looked through his mail bag and gave me my mail.
I thanked him and reassured him I wasn't angry with him.

So I got my mail without having to go to the Post Office..... yay..!!!

Flash :hi:

[jenchris]

My letterbox (old 18kg gas cylinder cut open and hinged, with a slot as well) is at the front gate - 85 metre drive - it is openable if the article is too big for the slot

Got a piece of mail the other day - written on it Arial Bold 72 point - ARTWORK DO NOT BEND.
You guessed it, folded in half and jammed through the slot...................

[Jules76]

This is why I ALWAYS get stuff delivered to my work address. 100% delivery rate and not one single issue from just about every major local/international postal and courier service. :thumbsup: Saves a lot of hassles.

[brian nordstrom]

:thumbsup: No one could steal the delivery , but if the little brown card goes missing and you know a delivery is comming , all you need id a photo ID and a bill with your name and address in it . Go to the post office and it will be there for you . :thumbsup:
They wont give the parcel out without these 2 forms of ID.
I have brought lots from IIS's classifieds and have not ever had an issue , and I live in the NT ,:) Out back ps you want to try NZ post with only 5 million people , then you would :mad2: have something to gripe about !
Brian.

[steve000]

By the way, this is not a personal attack. My problem is with lazy contractors and the running of aus post in general

Why not provide a better service instead of making people pay 2-3x the postage price for a stupid tracking number.. honestly you can buy RFID stickers for under 1c each. each letter and package gets 1 RFID sticker, the entire truck is scanned in a few seconds and the info is recorded automatically recorded into a data base. this level of techonology is used world wide with minimal impact on everyone, why do we in aus get left back in the early 90's relying on crappy service or forced to pay extreme premiums. Mum never gets her mail delivered ever since some lazy fool took over her route, it often ends up in various neighbours boxes, she often recieves the neighbours. they ended meeting weekly to sort out each others mail. many complaints have been made, nothing has changed. I have lost count of items I have lost in the mail. I almost never buy anything online any more because of this. I run the risk with ebay only cause of its cheaper price.

This was posted in 2005, where is it currently? http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/2014

http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/5122

Postal service providers from the following nations are participating in this first phase (http://www.rfidjournal.com/glossary/225): Aruba, Chile, Greece, India, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Peru, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

So many small average postage qty countries, why arent Australia and the US not on this list?

[Jules76]

As far as I can tell, that isn't an RFID system designed to replace manual bar code scanning, that's just putting RFID tags at random in the system to monitor service delivery times.



The reason why Australia Post isn't on that list is because they implemented their own performance monitoring system with the help of Lyngsoe Systems.

http://www.zdnet.com.au/aussie-post-keeps-track-with-rfid-339271738.htm

http://www.lyngsoesystems.com/postal/postal.asp

I agree though they should implement full track and trace using RFID which you'd imagine would go a long way to improving productivity.

[marki]

I have never had anything damaged in the post via oz post but have had the contractor drive off without knocking on the door. If you think oz post mail takes a long time over there try living in the West, 9 days minimum if you are lucky. AP express overnight means 3 - 4 days min usually but I think I may have found my answer. On Thursday arvo (~2.00pm) I was at Hare and Forbes trying to get hold of a collet and chuck set for my mill. They didn't have any in stock but the salesman said we can airbag one in from Sydney for you and have it delivered to your home address free of charge. I thought okay another week, bugger. 9am the next morning the bell rang and the delivery man was at my door. I thought it was some cutting tips I had ordered from the UK but there it was, my collet and chuck set :D. The courier company.....Toll and I will be using them as much as possible from here on, even if it costs more than oz post.

Mark

[AndrewJ]

Thats why its called WA ( you have to "W"ait "A"while for it to arrive )
However, you lot have huge advantages over the rest of us.
At least if anything breaks on yr D9,
you can get most bits from the corner deli :D

Andrew
( still annoyed that the "Freemasons" became the "Sail and anchor",
i used to like the sunday sessions in Freo )

[marki]

Actually Andrew we only have to wait if it comes from east oz. Freight times from everywhere else in the world are pretty reasonable, e.g Hong Kong 2 days, west coast USA 5 days, UK about 5 days depending on who it is, Germany about 6 days and so on. It might be the Nullabor that slows the post from the east but I suspect oz post just hold on to our mail until they have a great big pile then truck it over.

Mark

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Our post is sub-contracted out.
About 18 months ago, our tried and true postie ("Dave with the Kanga") lost the contract to another mob.
All OK for about two weeks then high-end stuff started being "lost" or "diverted" with alarming regularity.
Several of you have been on the receiving end of these muppets "teething pains" (apologies) and numerous others 'round these parts have had important packages go missing (I had no idea the market for bull semen was so cut-throat!), often with no record.
It took more than a year to brow-beat OzPost into taking our accusations seriously, but now their contract has been suspended and they are under investigation by the AFP and, hopefully, good riddance to the fu...er...gentlemen!

[TrevorW]

Govt(both) moves to cost cut by privatising essential services is a FU all round, there are too many of theses fiasco's to mention but I'll mention one

who'd be a Telecom investor ??

[AndrewJ]

Gday Mark



I seem to remember that bit ;), ie "its gotta come from over east"
I was there in the early eighties, so it was a bit different then.
If i remember correctly, you could fly to Indonesia/Bali and get a weeks accommodation and food, for less than just the airfare "going East".

Andrew

[TrevorW]

Still can !!