Australia Post service unreliable
Sadly Australia Post have a monopoly for most letter deliveries in Australia, but their service is deteriorating despite increasing charges for customers.
On their website here they describe the benfits of Registered Post as:
- Provision of a unique identification number
- Proof of posting when sent from a Post Office
- A signature obtained when delivered
As I was to find out later, the unique identification number is pretty much useless for tracking the item as it is not entered into the system UNTIL IT REACHES THE DESTINATION DELIVERY CENTRE. If it doesn't reach that centre, the system NEVER KNOWS about the item!!!
Example 1.
Around August 2006, my sister applied for a new passport. It was to be delivered by REGISTERED MAIL, which REQUIRES the recipient to sign for the article. When Australia Post delivered her passport, they simply dropped it into her letterbox, which is unsecured and accessible to anybody passing by. Fortunately the passport was still there when she cleared her mail. SInce they had not attempted to obtain her signature for such an important document, she lodged a written complaint with Australia Post on a special form at the Post Office. The result - they phoned her to apologize !!!! No doubt that made her feel much better and gave her confidence in the Registered Post system!!!
Example 2.
In October 2006 I posted an important cheque. Around a week later the letter was returned.
As you can see from the envelope above, the address is quite clear. As a result, several costly long-distance phone calls and faxes ensued between myself and the recipient, which cost me several dollars. As it turns out, the address I used IS CORRECT. Apparently Australia Post simply delivered the letter to the wrong address, and did not bother to check it when it was returned! To add insult to injury, I then had to pay to repost the item to the same address. So I am left to absorb the cost of their incompetence.
Example 3
On a Friday around mid November 2006, when I cleared my post office box I found an EXPRESS POST letter in it. Express Post GUARANTEES delivery by the NEXT BUSINESS DAY in designated areas. The letter had been posted around 15 klms away. However it was addressed to a man in Roma ( several hundred kilometers away ) and had the Roma postcode on it. The ONLY thing it had in common with my postal address was the same box number!!! So much for Express delivery!
Example 4.
I had some important legal documents and a very large cheque to send to Brisbane ( around 100 klms away ). So I sent them by REGISTERED MAIL to ensure their safe delivery. They were posted at 9.46am on Wednesday 6th December 2006. Below are the delivery times advertised by Australia Post on their postal boxes.
As you can see it clearly states that Scheduled Delivery for Brisbane metro area is NEXT BUSINESS DAY if posted by 5pm.
However the letter WAS NOT delivered the following day, despite it being posted over the post office counter at 9.46am. The recipient, who was expecting the letter, was home when the postman came, and was actually on the way to the mail box as the postman rode away. There was no sign of either the letter or a delivery notice, so I phoned Australia Post Customer Service on 131318. Firstly they stated that next day delivery WAS NOT guaranteed with Registered Post, or any other service other than Express Post. However that is NOT what they have advertised on their post boxes. NOWHERE does it imply that promoted delivery times are an unreliable guide only.
Furthermore they DID NOT KNOW where the letter was because it had not been received at the destination delivery centre.
However it gets worse! When I made further enquiries, it turns out that with both Registered Mail and Express Post, the articles are only logged into the system ONCE THEY ARRIVE at the delivery centre. Australia Post have absolutely NO knowledge of their existence until they reach the destination delivery centre!!! They are NOT logged at point of postage so that a track can be kept of their progress. HOW ABSURD that a country as technologically advanced as Australia has to put up with third-rate accountability in their postal system!!!
I phoned the Customer Service number again late that afternoon, and was advised that nothing more would be known about the letter until mail arrived at the delivery centre the following morning.
I phoned again at 8.50am the following morning. And surprise, SURPRISE!!! Not only had the letter arrived, according to the system the postman had ATTEMPTED TO DELIVER IT the prior day, and had carded it. Carding means that the letter could not be delivered, and a card is left advising the recipient to collect it at a post office in the area. I pointed out that the recipient HAD been home when the mail was delivered the previous day, and NO attempt had been made to either bring the letter to the door, NOR leave a card. I was told that postmen DO NOT bring the letter to the door as they cannot leave their bikes unattended, regardless of how close they may be to them. However, since that incident, I recently saw a postman leave his bike ( with engine still going ), and take some mail into a business. There were several pedestrians around at the time, any one of which could have stolen either the mail or, in fact, the still running motorbike. Yet the postman who SUPPOSEDLY attempted to deliver my letter refused to get off his bike in a quiet neighbourhood where there NO pedestrians around, and go to a door around 15 metres from his bike which would have been in clear view at all times. So apparently Australia Post will discriminate against individuals in favour of business.
So unless the recipient of a Registered Letter happens to be standing at their mail box when the letter is delivered, Austraila Post WILL NOT DELIVER the letter to the address. When I expressed my views of that arrangement, I was advised that Australia Post is not a courier service!!!!
I asked the location of the Post Office where the letter was being held. Since the recipient did NOT receive a card the previous day, I requested that Customer Service contact the post office concerned to advise them that the person claiming the letter MUST provide proof of identity before releasing the letter. They REFUSED that request. So since I would have to phone the recipient long distance, I then requested they phone the recipient to advise them the location of the letter. They also REFUSED to do that ! In other words, Australia Post DON'T GIVE A DAMN about incompetence and flaws in their system - the customer simply has to wear it!
I phoned the recipient, who then had to drive several kilometers to collect the letter. When queried, the post office official there stated that the letter had been left there the previous day, the day it SHOULD have been delivered, and the day that their system HAD NO RECORD of it!!!
To add insult to injury, later that day the postie left a card advising that the letter was available for collection at the post office !!!! It was carded the DAY AFTER he had it for delivery!
Example 5.
In early December 2006, I received a letter in my post office box. My box number is say number 48. The letter was addressed to a person at Unit 11, 48 Local Street. The ONLY similarity between the letter's address and my address is the number 48. Not only was this letter NOT for me, it SHOULD NOT have even been taken to my post office for delivery!
What the above examples prove to me is just how UNRELIABLE Australia Post really is. And paying extra to try to get guaranteed service is often a WASTE OF MONEY. I strongly suggest the public should avoid using Australia Post wherever possible, and certainly DO NOT expect to receive any extra services that you may pay for.
It's time the government allowed greater competition from the private sector.
And since I have put this page online, several people have told me of even worse problems they have experienced with Australia Post.
It's time Australia Post was held responsible for their failings. Being a bureaucracy, they are effectively untouchable.