Australia Post

In the mood for a whinge!

Went for a CT scan of my wrist last Wednesday week, waited forever for the results to turn up from my GP. He wrote the letter 7/12, the enveloppe is postmarked 8/12, I received it yesterday 14/12. 6 days to travel 20kms?
I could have walked it in 1 day!
Co-incidentally on the same day I received an Xbox game (NTSC) for my grandson for Xmas, purchased on Ebay in the US. Postmarked 6/12, received here 14/12. I'd rate that pretty good.

But 6 days in the same town, smarten up Australia Post! Rang them and was basically told, TOUGH!

Feel better now, wrist doesn't though:D

Why didnt you offer to pick up? Rather than wait for the post.

I must say I have never had a problem with Ozpost, from either a sender or receiver point of view.

Al :)

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Originally Posted by Big Shed

In the mood for a whinge!

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Yeah me too.

Nearly got cleaned up twice on two round-abouts by crap women drivers in one drive home from work last week.

One signalled left hand turn and drove staight ahead near collision.

Another had no indicator and turned right almost straight into me.

Crazy time of year I recon.

Hey nothing like hijacking someone else's whinge :D :p :D

The local P.O. seems to be suffering from Xmas temps syndrome at the moment - I just had a very expensive book (over $800 worth) 'delivered' to my P.O. box - in theory.

What I actually got was a 'Final Notice' that they were sending it back as I hadn't picked it up, but they hadn't condescended to put the first or second notice in my P.O box. :mad:

I can't entirely blame them directly for damage to the book tho' - the nongs that shipped the book just stuck it in its retail cardboard case straight in a postbag, no other protection (for 35 pounds worth of post & packaging!:mad: )

I can't complain - Rang Felder about 11 am yesty to order a reducer. It arrived about 8:30 am today. Let's know how quickly the cheque arrives, Brendan.
If I'm in the workshop, the postie rides up and hands me the mail so I don't even have to walk out to the mailbox.

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Originally Posted by AlexS

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If I'm in the workshop, the postie rides up and hands me the mail so I don't even have to walk out to the mailbox.

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Now that is the postie we want, at the shop we had to install a letterbox because the postie is to frickin lazy to get out of the ute to come in the shop to deliver.

Al :(

We post a reasonable volume of mail through oz post and it is very rare that a letter goes astray or doesn't turn up. As for the US speed, they don't actually deliver it to your door, it had to be quick through the yanks and Oz post to get there that quick. Australia post will actually quote a number for the pieces of mail that go missing or are slow, for the 600 odd pieces we send and a similar number received each month I would think the number is higher on the estimated than the actual, so I give them a thumbs up.

Go and have a look at the U.S. postal service rates of lost and slow items far worse than our own when I last looked.

John.

I'm sorry Big Shed, you had a problem with AP.

Just to be sure, check the written address - look at it carefully, is it correctly addressed? including correct post code?

At the moment we are handling over 54,000,000 articles a day through the system, Australia wide. IF the article wasn't correctly addressed it is put aside where people will look into the address & usually correct it manually. In non-peak times this happens on a single shift. Most articles are machine sorted via optical character reading in an FSM (Flat Sorting Machines) & matched to an address. There is some extremely powerful software that allows us to do this & just think, you paid $500 million for it ;)

Most Mail centres have a staff of well over 3000 spread over 3 shifts & operate 24/7. At peak times, such as now, each shift can have almost 2000 people working. A sizable percentage are temp staff who don't know all the ins & outs of how a mail centre works or even what to do with something out of the ordinary.

AP is audited in an ongoing monitoring process by an outside company & the results I've seen for the last year are 96.7% on time delivery & we can't fiddle the figures! :eek:

While I'm not making excuses for the poor service, you might want to give them a break. I'd still write a letter to the State Manager, Delivery, in your state and outline your case.

If you still don't like it you can always move to Canada where they have the world's best postal system (Australia is #2). If that doesn't seem practicable.......

PAY A COURIER, it'll cost you more that $2.40, I bet!! ;) :D

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Originally Posted by ozwinner

Now that is the postie we want, at the shop we had to install a letterbox because the postie is to frickin lazy to get out of the ute to come in the shop to deliver.

Al :(

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Al,
He isn't a postie he is a mail contractor & he is doing his job (for crap money, usually).

ALL OF US have a responsibility UNDER LAW to provide a letter box that is accessible, safe for us to use & is secure. This is laid out in the Commonwealth Communications Act. By the aforementioned law, no letter box means there shouldn't be any mail delivery. Oh, by the way next time you drop a piece of mail into a post box you might like to know AP owns it from then until it's delivered. There is no 'my mail' until it's delivered. ;) :cool:

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Originally Posted by AlexS

Let's know how quickly the cheque arrives, Brendan.

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Look out Brendan, he's setting you up, mate. :D :D

True story: Quite a few years ago, a colleague received a letter which had been posted ten years earlier. The face bore a rubber-stamp impression stating something like, "Found in equipment previously thought to be empty." Apparently happens often enough to justify having a special rubber stamp made.:eek:

Joe

aaahh December is a wonderous time of year for mail isnt it? well actually so is November and October oh an Septembers not bad for that matter... the silly season in AP I call it... the Chrissy madness strikes and AP goes troppo

Im still waiting on a parcel from the states some 3 and a half months since it left the states! :mad: but then it is Chrissy an well we just have to be patient and well we KNOW its left the states so its somewhere between there and here dont worry it will turn up sometime in the next couple of months :rolleyes: same sort of parcel I had sent over back in March took just on 14 days to get here... aahh Chrissy at AP amazing stuff ;)

Yes one must of course take into account the factor of many many gadzillions of parcels and letters zippin around the country and globe at this time of year and the fact that the poor sods are workin their knuts and whatsits off to get the mail to you... so smile cheer up have a beer it will get here soon enough :cool:

I think the message here is that if you want mail to actually arrive within a good timeframe do not send it between September and December cause it aint gonna happen! Thats the time of year when the chrissy gremlins are given full rein at the local and state AP offices... true!!... they let the buggars loose in September even though they know full well the buggars have been on the slops all year but let em loose they do and cause chaos mayhem and absolute delays they do... but as the girls will tell you when you ring

"ooh sorry sir but it is that time of year again hahaha yes Christmas funny time of year istnt it? yes sir 3 months from the states is normal and no sir 5 months can be expected particularily at this time of year hold on a second and I will check the numbers of the parcel.... mmm yes sir that parcel has left the states so lucky you its on its way... ooh I couldnt say how much longer it will take goodness me all I can tell you is that its left the states yes sir have a happy christmas" click ;)

As to letter boxes... when we bought this place the letter box was a crook of the stump out the front that was it no box no cover just the crook of the stump on the corner of the drive... so buggins decides to build a ubeaut letterbox doesnt he? yep sure does a whopdopadoo one nice and large in the shape of a house an all sprayed varnish all over the thing set it on legs and stuck it right at the front of the yard right in the middle right at the end of the path that until then ran nowhere near the "letter box" so it looked real smart and rather flash so I ripped out the old stump and its crook letterbox... first day mail person rides their wee motorbike up onto the lawn from one side to the other then back again then back again then stopped scratched her head and then zoomed off... next day same thing... finally I went down to the post office to ask why she didnt put the letters IN THE BOX.... "oh she didnt see it" EH??? the sodding thing is RIGHT in the middle of the yard at the front its bloody well 3ft of the ground so right at her eye level its 24in wide x 18in high by 24in and stands 3ft high from the ground (eyeball height from a motorbike cant miss the thing... I thought) long and for the last 3 days shes riden right past it SLOWLY... How could she not see the flamin thing? "well shes very busy I will let her know you have a mailbox now sir" "Ive had one for 3 days that shes riden right up to right past several times each time" she smiles very diplomatically "Im sorry your having a bad day sir do you want your mail?" so I picks up the collected mail and headed home... the next day Im waiting for her and I watch as she rides straight up to the box sit there looking from it to the house and back letters in her flamin hand and start to ride off!! So I out there "Oi!!" I yell "why dont you just put the mail in the box?" I ask when she stops "oh I didnt realize..."

What that Id made a whangdangdoodle of a letter box? That Id placed it right at the right height so she didnt have to bend or anything? That its right in front of the yard? That its that sodding big a blind postie would see it? WHAT? "I was looking for the stump that was the mail box before and I didnt know someone had bought the place sorry sir have a good day" yeah right in sleepy little Brunswick Junction where everybody KNOWS everything before the person it happens to knows its happening and she doesnt know? where the letterbox was right in front of her snozzle she doesnt know? weird people in Brunswick Junction West Aus I tell you :rolleyes:

Next day she drives right up to the door and knocks!! "heres your mail sir" :D gotta love AP ;)

A thumbs up from me for Au-post as well and a thumbs down for US post. Had a parcel posted in Virginia on the 20th October, it made it to the ship 20th November and is still floating around the ocean somewhere. I ring the guys in Brisbane once a week, as I have the tracking number, and they are super helpfull. The US parcel post is running one month behind so I reckon our guys do OK.
It is a one kg parcel so I first thought about using Fedex couriers first up but the quote was $260US so I'll put up with the slow boat for $14US

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Originally Posted by attie

A thumbs up from me for Au-post as well and a thumbs down for US post. Had a parcel posted in Virginia on the 20th October, it made it to the ship 20th November and is still floating around the ocean somewhere. I ring the guys in Brisbane once a week, as I have the tracking number, and they are super helpfull. The US parcel post is running one month behind so I reckon our guys do OK.
It is a one kg parcel so I first thought about using Fedex couriers first up but the quote was $260US so I'll put up with the slow boat for $14US

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Oh my Lord, attie! You didn't let them send it actual Parcel Post (with a capital P)? :eek: I hope it wasn't something you absolutely, positively needed right away. :D US Postal Overseas Priority Mail does fairly well, especially with only a 1 kilo parcel, but Parcel Post is the Black Hole of the Universe. Well, you'll get it someday, probably, possibly, or your survivors will. :rolleyes: Sorry to fail at cheering you up. :(

Bear in mind that they are flat out at the moment, we are the first call for our postie when she leaves the post office and our mail is here by 7.45am at the latest, yesterday I went into town at 10.30 and she was still loading her vehicle, and looking very frustrated.

Our old mail contractor would deliver any parcel to our door to avoid it being left in a fairly visible place on a busy road, especially good if it was raining.

Our mail takes longer to go from NSW to WA than it does for it to travel the other way.

We had a very large order sent from US last year, it contained some dangerous goods, after a long delay whilst it was floating around, one box turned up, three days later another one. The last two didn't make it, a call to our local post master and he put in a couple of days tracking it down and looked after it personally until we could get it.

Generally I reckon Ap do a good job, but like any other business it has its fair share of idiots.

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Originally Posted by Wild Dingo

As to letter boxes... when we bought this place the letter box was a crook of the stump out the front that was it no box no cover just the crook of the stump on the corner of the drive... so buggins decides to build a ubeaut letterbox doesnt he? yep sure does a whopdopadoo one nice and large in the shape of a house an all sprayed varnish all over the thing set it on legs and stuck it right at the front of the yard right in the middle right at the end of the path that until then ran nowhere near the "letter box" so it looked real smart and rather flash so I ripped out the old stump and its crook letterbox... first day mail person rides their wee motorbike up onto the lawn from one side to the other then back again then back again then stopped scratched her head and then zoomed off... next day same thing... finally I went down to the post office to ask why she didnt put the letters IN THE BOX.... "oh she didnt see it" EH??? the sodding thing is RIGHT in the middle of the yard at the front its bloody well 3ft of the ground so right at her eye level its 24in wide x 18in high by 24in and stands 3ft high from the ground (eyeball height from a motorbike cant miss the thing... I thought) long and for the last 3 days shes riden right past it SLOWLY... How could she not see the flamin thing? "well shes very busy I will let her know you have a mailbox now sir" "Ive had one for 3 days that shes riden right up to right past several times each time" she smiles very diplomatically "Im sorry your having a bad day sir do you want your mail?" so I picks up the collected mail and headed home... the next day Im waiting for her and I watch as she rides straight up to the box sit there looking from it to the house and back letters in her flamin hand and start to ride off!! So I out there "Oi!!" I yell "why dont you just put the mail in the box?" I ask when she stops "oh I didnt realize..."

Next day she drives right up to the door and knocks!! "heres your mail sir" :D gotta love AP ;)

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That's a good story Dingo. :D :D :D

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Originally Posted by MajorPanic

I'm sorry Big Shed, you had a problem with AP.

Just to be sure, check the written address - look at it carefully, is it correctly addressed? including correct post code?

While I'm not making excuses for the poor service, you might want to give them a break. I'd still write a letter to the State Manager, Delivery, in your state and outline your case.

If you still don't like it you can always move to Canada where they have the world's best postal system (Australia is #2). If that doesn't seem practicable.......

PAY A COURIER, it'll cost you more that $2.40, I bet!! ;) :D

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Yes correctly addressed, including postcode. I am actually forced to not only pay to send a letter, but to receive one as well. Living in the country we have to have a PO Box, and pay Aust Post a fee for the privilege of receiving a letter, while they save on the cost of the postie.
If this was an isolated instance it could easily be excused, but it happens with monotonous regularity. Have previously complained to AP in writing and all I received was platitudes about "Mission Statements" etc, etc.
Last year all the people in the area received a letter asking whether we wanted RMD boxes, 100% of the people said YES PLEASE! We then received a letter that "your wishes have been noted but due to contractual obligations we cannot give you what we offered"!
Talking about bureaucratese!
Moving to Canada is not an options, don't like the weather, so I just occassionally whinge.
Have a merry Xmas and pleasant dreams of Christmas cards:p

The missus and I were very impressed with AP. A large letter was delivered this week in an AP market envelope, inside was a letter of apology stating that a christmas card addressed to us had been caught in the sorting machine and damaged. The card's envelope was in pretty bad nick but the card looked untouched. It would have been easy for them to sticky tape it up and throw it back as if nothing had happened but instead they did the right thing. A pat on the back from me

The postal service is expensive here.

But darned if they don't do the job.


Example, a little message in the post box, "you have a large package, it's at the post office."

Call them up (at about 8:30pm), and say "I am at home now" and 20 minutes later, they arrive with package.


They will mail money.

They will do COD.

They will deliver maybe 3 times a day.

They got stuff from Las Vegas to here in 47.5 hours. Fedex said 2-3 days and 10 times the cost.


Yes, they do charge more for the mail (but nothing like the UK, that's scary stuff) but they make Aussie (and Canada*)post seem pretty average in their levels of service.


* We sent some stuff to Canada recently. 5 days to Canada, 3 months the rest of the way. Granted, they were making big changes, but that's too long for any mail service that's even remotely considered 'decent' let alone 'good'.

We have a postie that insists on folding good magazines etc in half and stuffing them in a brick letter box, when on the side (from which he approaches) of said letter box is an A4 sized aluminium flat box just for that purpose.
Why would a postie think it is ok to ruin good magazines.

They are not paid to think.

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Originally Posted by outback

Our old mail contractor would deliver any parcel to our door to avoid it being left in a fairly visible place on a busy road, especially good if it was raining.

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Like Outback, the AP contractor that delivers packages always tries to leave the parcel under the pergola at the rear of my house - under cover and well out of sight, even though it means he has to walk about an extra 125m or so. Pretty good service in my view.

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Originally Posted by ptc

They are not paid to think.

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Only Tassie ones........ no! that's not true. As in all jobs in life you will find lazy people, in fact 91% of the work force.

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Originally Posted by outback

Generally I reckon Ap do a good job, but like any other business it has its fair share of idiots.

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I funk I said that :D

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Originally Posted by AlexS

Let's know how quickly the cheque arrives, Brendan.

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Just bounced it's merry way through the door. ;)

I got a phone call on my mobile this morning from Australia Post
(no idea how they got my mb #)

"we have a package for you but can't make out the address"
(you got my mb # but can't look me up in the phone book?)

I let them know my address but can't work out what the guy is saying as he has a very heavy Indian accent. He seems to be wanting me to come and pick it up instead.

Since the wife was to be over that way I asked her to pick it up.

When I got home tonight I looked at the package from Tauntons; perfect condition with a crystal clear typewritten address on the package.

However, on the customs declaration form is a not-so-well written address, although only the number is not easy to read.

So, why didn't Aust Post read the big typewritten address label?
Why didn't they look me up in the phone book first and I would have been easy to find.
Finally, how the heck did they get my mb #? :confused:

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Originally Posted by Groggy

Finally, how the heck did they get my mb #? :confused:

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C'mon Groggy. We've all got your mobile number.

"04......."

You know the rest ;)

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Originally Posted by Groggy

I got a phone call on my mobile this morning from Australia Post
(no idea how they got my mb #)
:

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I woke up this morning...................
Just put it to music and you have the potential to make a million:D :D :D :D :D :D