Amazing delivery

[Big Shed]

Ordered a CNC timing pulley and belt on 9/2/15 from China, it arrived yesterday 17/2/15, in an amazing 8 days.

The whole order cost me $16.50 including postage and the Chinese seller included a $5 discount voucher to take off my next order (any value it says) by 4/4/15.

What really amazed me is that the parcel (one of those white plastic bags) had printed on it Deutsche Post and marked postage paid Frankfurt-Allemagne.

Looks like the international parcel delivery business is hotting up, especially with Toll being bought by Japan Post.

Maybe the Australian Government should have sold off Australia Post.

[KBs PensNmore]

It certainly is amazing that it can come from half way around the world, in 8 days, but can take 9 days from Queensland. I quite often buy stuff from the USA and again 8 - 10 days, come on Australia Post lift your game.
Kryn

[Old-Biker-UK]

Same here in the UK.
Two digital clock movements from China - less than £2 post free, arrived in 10 days.
Would cost me that to post it to the next town 10 miles away.

Mark

[Mulgabill]

Yes!! I have had recent similar experience. Seven days from China.
Another recent experience with Auspost was 8 days from Qld. The Auspost Tracking showed posted in Qld arrived in Vic 3 days later, 2 days later back in Qld, 3 days later delivery back in Vic.??? Go figure!!!

[Big Shed]

Had a similar experience with Aust Post.

Posted 2 parcels at the same time, one to Carrum Downs in Vic, one to a Brisbane suburb.

Both parcels arrived in Brisbane after 5 days, then the Vic parcel went back to Vic and eventually arrived after travelling for a total of 10 days! Can't say we didn't get value for money

So the tracking works, all they have to get right is their sorting

[lesmeyer]

One of the problems I have noted with some (not all) of the Aussie retailers is that it takes them 2-4 days to ship the darn thing. All part of the service chain I guess .
Les

[ian]

reading those experiences, what I don't get is how AusPost can first time deliver a parcel that's come from overseas, while at the same time domestic parcels are sent on round trips

[Big Shed]

reading those experiences, what I don't get is how AusPost can first time deliver a parcel that's come from overseas, while at the same time domestic parcels are sent on round trips

What I also don't get is how Aust Post does the final delivery of parcels from China that if posted here would cost more than cost of the Chinese item which includes postage from China.

I had a twin cigarette lighter thingo for in the car delivered from China. The whole thing including postage from China was about $6.00.
If I wanted to post this item, even within Victoria, the postage would exceed that. If posted outside Vic, a small parcel satchel would cost me about $8.50 - go figure.

No wonder Japan Post reckon they want a part of the parcel delivery business by taking over Toll.

Maybe Aust Post should get in on the overseas action as well, or they may become a take over target for the likes of Deutsche Post and Japan Post (or even TNT which is quite a player in parcel and mail delivery in Europe).

[ian]

What I also don't get is how Aust Post does the final delivery of parcels from China that if posted here would cost more than cost of the Chinese item which includes postage from China.

I had a twin cigarette lighter thingo for in the car delivered from China. The whole thing including postage from China was about $6.00.
If I wanted to post this item, even within Victoria, the postage would exceed that. If posted outside Vic, a small parcel satchel would cost me about $8.50 - go figure.

this one I do get.

there's a suite of international treaties and agreements covering how international calls and mail are handled.

Essentially, the shipper in China pays the Chinese postal service the Chinese rate, of which some small amount goes to AusPost to deliver the package within AUS.

The "theory" behind the agreement is that the volume of international mail is approximately balanced in each direction, so what AusPost loses delivering Chinese parcels in AUS it makes back on parcels destined for China.
This might be true in Europe but is way off for AUS.

A similar arrangement applies with international phone calls -- it's much cheaper to ring AUS from the US than the other way round.

[Big Shed]

Yes Ian, I was aware of the arrangements, but like you I can't see the logic in it.

It looks like Aust Post is not handling the transition to the digital age all that well.

In particular it is allowing private companies to steal their thunder on parcel delivery.

For instance I just sold an electric motor which needed to be delivered to Dandenong Vic. As the weight was over 20kg, Aust Post didn't want to know, it went via e-go and cost $23 - deliver to depot in Bendigo - pick up depot in Dandenong. The depot in Bendigo was Toll. Toll is also rolling out parcel depots in newsagents around Australia - Aust Post could have easily done that with all the LPOs and their own post offices.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-23/australia-post-forecasts-loss-as-profit-drops-56pc/6215334

[ian]

For instance I just sold an electric motor which needed to be delivered to Dandenong Vic. As the weight was over 20kg, Aust Post didn't want to know, it went via e-go and cost $23 - deliver to depot in Bendigo - pick up depot in Dandenong. The depot in Bendigo was Toll. Toll is also rolling out parcel depots in newsagents around Australia - Aust Post could have easily done that with all the LPOs and their own post offices.

I sort of get why this is so

23kg is too heavy for manual lifting -- the typical WH&S limit is 20kg.

Toll depots have mechanical handling equipment -- fork lifts, etc -- AusPost doesn't
the doors of my local PO are too narrow to get a pallet through and the internal space can't really be configured to allow a pallet jack to be moved around.

Don't overlook that most POs are essentially shop fronts and many landlords don't take kindly to any sort of trolley being wheeled through the front door.

[Big Shed]

How does Toll overcome these problems with their newsagent network then?

The average newsagent shop is not unlike an LPO.

As for the larger stuff, don't forget that AusPost owns 100% of StarTrack Express - have they used this (very efficient and accomplished) transport network to improve the services to the public?

Not that I have seen.

Here in Bendigo the StarTrack Express depot is within shouting distance of the Toll depot.

Saw the CEO of AusPost on the news tonight, all he could think of was to blame the govt for not lifting AusPost service obligation and saying that basic letter stamps should be $1 and if you wanted daily deliveries you would have to pay more.
How very creative, your volume is going down, so you increase the price and reduce the service, as a result of which your volume is going down again and then............

You fill in the dots.

[ian]

How does Toll overcome these problems with their newsagent network then?

The average newsagent shop is not unlike an LPO.

As for the larger stuff, don't forget that AusPost owns 100% of StarTrack Express - have they used this (very efficient and accomplished) transport network to improve the services to the public?

Not that I have seen.

Here in Bendigo the StarTrack Express depot is within shouting distance of the Toll depot.

Saw the CEO of AusPost on the news tonight, all he could think of was to blame the govt for not lifting AusPost service obligation and saying that basic letter stamps should be $1 and if you wanted daily deliveries you would have to pay more.
How very creative, your volume is going down, so you increase the price and reduce the service, as a result of which your volume is going down again and then............

You fill in the dots.

From the ABC News story

"Mail that's sent is sent by corporations and governments, that's 97 per cent of the volume," Mr Fahour observed.
it won't be too long before most of this volume will likely disappear -- replaced by email -- regardless of what AusPost does with the price.

it's the people who post the remaining 3% of current mail who will need to pay for the service into the future.
And how many of the 3% are pensioners who already get a discount?

[Vernonv]

How does Toll overcome these problems with their newsagent network then?

I'd bet that they have weight/size limits for items dropped at the newsagent.

Saw the CEO of AusPost on the news tonight, all he could think of was to blame the govt for not lifting AusPost service obligation and saying that basic letter stamps should be $1 and if you wanted daily deliveries you would have to pay more.
How very creative, your volume is going down, so you increase the price and reduce the service, as a result of which your volume is going down again and then............

You fill in the dots.

You are not really comparing apples with apples. AP does very well out of parcel services, however is dragged down by it's regular mail services. If AP could dump it's mail obligations, it would immediately become profitable and be able to compete directly with the likes of Toll. So it doesn't really take a rocket surgeon to see that that the AP CEO is dead on the money ... maybe to level the playing field, the government should force the other players in the market to take a share of the regular mail services.

[Big Shed]

Coming full circle back to AusPost subsidising deliveries from overseas, particularly China.

IMHO they would be better off addressing that imbalance rather than trying to make their letter delivery business profitable, it is a downward spiral.

Why should the Australian taxpayer (yes we still own AusPost) subsidise Chinese businesses selling cheap widgets on Ebay with "free" postage?

I also don't see why AusPost makes this distinction between the letter business and the parcel business. After all a lot of the handling involved in both is the same for letters and parcels, so there must be some clever distinctions being drawn between the two to enable them to make a "loss" on one and a "profit" on the other.
There is some very political manoeuvring going on here.