AusPost suck! That's the only word for it, sorry.

At our old place the postie would put parcels behind the bin (in a puddle of muddy water), in the hedge or just on the step where it could be easily seen (and therefore nicked) or ended up sopping wet. We got some important documents from the UK which actually fell apart in my hands, they were so sodden. Nothing like having to phone the UK to request replacements knowing they'll probably end up in the same condition.

At our new place we have a bank of postboxes so the postie just shoves in any old mail if he can't be bothered finding the right box. We've only been at this address six months and we've already had at least four parcels which were to be signed for (for other people) just left on our doorstep which means we have to take it back to the PO to be redelivered. Any items which aren't delivered but taken back to the depot go to one which is only open Mon-Fri from 9-5 so I have to have them re-directed to the (closer) depot, this takes at least 4 days despite them being about 2km apart. Reason being that they go back into the postal system and it takes this long to travel this far...

And of course we have endless tales of Christmas presents never arriving, presents arriving in bits and parcels in such bad condition that AusPost put them in a plastic bag and blame the sender. Jebus...

In January my daughter asked me to post some important documents for her as she was overseas at the time. I decided to use the Express Platinum service so that I could track the package, which I lodged myself at the post office, ensuring that I got a receipt along with the tracking number.

The tracking was still not showing that the item had been delivered a week later, when it should have been delivered the next day. When I called Auspost to query this I was told that the item had probably been delivered by a contractor and therefore the tracking system would not be updated as contractors do not have the necessary tracking equipment. I asked for the matter to be investigated and eventually got a call back about two weeks later, but even then I still did not get an absolute confirmation that the item had ever been delivered. All that they could tell me was that the item had left the sorting office!

I know from contacting the addressee that the package had not been delivered a week after it was posted. In the circumstances they were happy to accept a faxed copy of the documents so that my daughter did not miss the deadline and luckily I had scanned the originals before posting.

In all of this Auspost offered no apology and no compensation, just the explanation that Express Platinum is only trackable in certain circumstances. Perhaps they should have told me that before I paid for a premium service that was anything but!

yes, I think it's safe to say this thread has reassured me that Australia Post's piss-poor attitude and service with me is not personal, and they treat all their customers like this!

This EXACTLY mirrors my experience with the allegedly Platinum next day service. I was at home, they claimed they tried to deliver (lied) - no card was left - and then they didn't know where it (my passport) was. Took about a week and lots of frustrating phone calls to retrieve it.

Hmmm sounds like the standards for platinum vary from state to state... because some of the contracters dont have their own scanners, they dont get to deliver platinum in Melbourne.

BCworld also raised an interesting point re DHL... they get so overloaded that they lodge their parcels with Apost at times. Same applies to UPS, and Toll, So dont expect the other couriers to be the sole delivery carriers.

I think it's fair to say, that Apost has been caught out by the need for trackable items and the unbelievable explosion in internet driven deliveries.

We were all looking at losing our jobs about 3-4 years ago through diminshing volumes... Now we can't keep up with the quantam growth in small parcels.... neither can the privates.

It's growing at a rate I've not seen in any area of business in my working life.... by factors seemingly. The whole package side of the business is really stressed by volume. As shop over the counter sales shrink... Aus posts volumes grow.... obviously this is now causing serious quality issues. Especially if the supposed ultra premium product "Platinum" is becoming tainted.

Like I said they are rolling out 3,000 scanners to indvidual posties over the next year. I'd like see how they work out, how they will all get recharged and what happens when one gets lost.

A lot of the thread is dealing with why their delivery service is so poor, but it's worth noting how awful their customer service is as well. Nightmarish phone menus, email forms, etc. to speak to someone who hasn't a clue and doesn't care at all. I have a very low opinion of them now (guess that's obvious...) and will always avoid if possible.

But it's not their fault, Zen. The customer is obviously wrong - either didn't order the right type of service or expected that a sign-for delivery would actually require a signature or expected that their packages/documents wouldn't wind up God knows where. Clearly you and the rest of us here are wrong for expecting the service we pay for.

Unbelievable !?

That frankly smacks of the root of the problem. A postal delivery service that didn't understand that online ordering and parcel delivery was a growing and vital part of their business, starting over a decade ago, is a service in need of complete overhaul. They still haven't got themselves sorted out on that, the service is p*ss poor and overpriced. Cheaper to send things from Hong Kong than within the country, stupid rules, slow, slow, slow.

Honestly, there are votes for the party that promises to give the australian postal 'service' a good kicking and force them to shape up. The management, structural setup, and customer focus couldn't find its a*se with both hands.

I have to be fair and say in NSW my local post office were helpful and friendly with nothing too much trouble and my postie was brilliant. However if I went to the Miranda post office the staff were surly and unhelpful and all my friends said the same.

Now I'm in Melbourne the post office staff are friendly but not a great help when things go wrong and my postie goes out of her way to ruin my mail deliberately folding stuff in half and leaving stuff half out of the mailbox in the pouring rain.

It all seems very hit and miss dependant on personalities .

We honestly have people that have worked with the Royal Mail who say that Aus Post works better.

I can only go on their inside knowledge really when comparing the two.

Seems a bit weird to me that we get such good independent Audit reports (KPMG ) especially compared to other mail services around the world, yet you get feedback like this... something like 97 pct on time... and minimal non delivery....I know 35K workers got a bonus for that achieving that benchmark. Edit.... Those poor contractors not included, (Probably one of the worst jobs in Aus a Australia Post Contractor)



Unless it's a case of a small number of complainers having the loudest voice

I think the communication between customers and Apost could improve.... as people dont seem to be able to fathom the fact that there is no no bend policy and no fragile policy. Plus if an item gets mangled inside an intact envelope then 99pct of the time it's a despatch fault. Whereas if the envelope/package gets wrecked... unless it comes open from a seal fail, it's internal Aus post fault.

Parcels are a seperate issue, they are delivered by contractors, basically no one that speaks English properly is now willing to do the job for the money offered. The money that Apost is paying it's contractors is reflected in the service. Very few capable competent workers are willing to work for circa 250 bucks for a 11+ hour plus day, plus pay for their own van, fuel, holidays, super, and sick leave.... They try and cut down their hours by leaving parcels where they think they are safe.

Once again I reiterate, the private couriers are not much better they just give their difficult stuff to Aus post to deliver..... All of them.. With 100's coming from DHL.

One failing I can definitely verify, is if a letter gets stuck in machinery, they wont stop the process for at least a few weeks until scheduled maintance comes around...... I guess thats covered in that 97 pct on time delivery though.

Well, that is probably a good part of the problem.

A customer focused organisation would be listening to the customers, not KPMG. It would know, day to day, minute to minute what its customers thought, would understand the root of the dissatisfaction, and would have dealt with it before it got to be a running joke.

As a quick pointer, from what you say, you have a 97% metric for on time delivery. That's asking for trouble. The moment you set such an easily cheatable metric, worse, one with money attached, you can basically guarantee that the customer focus will go out the window and the metric will be met - by lying, cheating, redefining. Honestly, it's almost likely willingly shooting yourself in the foot, it's that bad.

True actually, as we know which items are measured and which ones aren't, locally at least.

I can now add my tuppence worth. In the last month, important documents to do with our house build were sent to our old address despite a redirection being in force.

This morning I've found out that a new bank card was ordered and sent out about a month ago and hasn't arrived. The bank has today cancelled all cards to the account and are sending a new card and new PIN. Pain in the buttocks and it's a good job it's not my main account or I'd be without a card over the weekend. Will be interesting to see if my main account card turns up in a couple of weeks or whether that will go wandering too........

We've had this happen too. I think the redirection thing is iffy at best. We tried to let everyone know our new address from the outset, but there's always one or two that don't get changed. I can't recall exactly what it was, but it was something that you wouldn't want the new tenants opening and reading (ie. not just junk mail).