Australia Post Parcel Tracking

[Chris Parks]

AP are now set up with independent streams of business, I guess that is the best description. Keep in mind that all country deliveries have been contracted since God played full back for Israel.

They franchised most of the postal outlets right through Oz. Only enough are left to make an appearance of AP still being in the front line and they are all in major centres.

They contracted all parcel deliveries in Oz, metro or not.

They contracted mail deliveries in a lot of places that were not metro but were still AP employees. I live in a town that has about 5,000 people and they contracted the mail delivery here and moved their employed posties elsewhere.

It is no longer possible as you found out to utilise the PO as a point of complaint, bad luck and seeya later is what you get if you try. Like all other semi government corporations it is all about the bottom line and like all others it has become a shadow of its former self when people actually cared. There has been no investment in the structure of the company and it has run down but now it has bitten them and they are being forced to invest in new structure and systems nation wide.

Startrack is now wholly owned by AP, it along with Australian Air Express were both owned 50/50 with Qantas. AP & Qantas did a deal where AP took 100% ownership in ST and Qantas got 100% of AAE. AP have plans to integrate ST into their structure to utilise ST's expertise in moving product that is not containerised but loose loaded into trucks which is what we did years ago and they moved away from for some very good reasons. The cost savings are huge and all their new parcel facilities will have loose loading capability. Pity the poor grunts who have to do it though.

Things are not healthy in the letters delivery business world wide but the decline was predicted 15 years ago and is no surprise to anyone, least of all AP. As an aside NZ Post has forecast a three day delivery system for mail in the coming years due to low volumes. There is a nice little problem here, More houses thus delivery points are being built but less mail! I am glad it is not my problem as there is only one answer, staggered deliveries using the same or less employees. What has caught them and every other company by surprise is the parcel delivery business, it has gone nuts and no one has adequate capacity to deal with it. Delivery to the end recipient is a problem that is being dealt with now. TOLL for instance were (are??) looking at utilising Caltex servo sites to put 24 hour lockers in and AP have already started that process and have some on the ground. This is not a fool proof method and there will be issues involved like what happens when someone stuffs a locker with the wrong parcel?

I am happily retired and don't want to go back as the lower end of the management have with few exceptions no further interest in the whole thing apart from protecting their own backsides, getting the joint to run better is not something they care about. BTW they have gotten rid of thousands of middle management in the last few years and disposed of their headquarters building in NSW.

[Sir Stinkalot]

The reality is the local PO has no way of influencing what has happened, you need to contact AP as they employ the local contractor who does the delivery. The local PO, the parcel delivery and in some cases the mail delivery are not inter related these days as they once were when the PO was owned by AP and all deliveries were controlled from the PO that they were delivered from.

Another parcel another level of frustration with Australia Post. The latest package was an eParcel. Unlike the parcel that caused me to start this tread the tracking on this one was very good. I guess it was all down to the seller entering the correct details but I got constant email updated from Australia Post advising that the item was initiated, in transit, on board etc ..... a real improvement there. Delivery times were also acceptable.

Anyway today I received an email advising it was on board for delivery today - again all positive for the tracking system. As it always happens however I had to go out this morning and the delivery was unsuccessful. The contractor left the card, but for the second time in as may attempted deliveries, the parcel was taken to an Australia Post business centre over the other side of town for collection. A quick check of the Australia Post site indicates that there are no less than 10 Australia Post outlets closer to the delivery address than the place they take the parcel for collection.

Fortunately being in Adelaide a trip across the other side of town isn't the end of the world but it certainly is inconvenient. I asked in December why my small sized package was delivered to such an inconvenient location and was advised that due to Christmas many of the smaller LPO's were struggling for space and as such more packages were going to the larger business centre where there was more space .... at the time I thought this was a reasonable explanation and accepted it. I asked the same question today when collection another small package and basically got the same explanation with Christmas being replaced with just being busy.

I notice that Australia Post now offer additional services such as rescheduling deliveries, redelivering packages or lockers (all at additional costs). The cynic in me would tend to think that by making collection more difficult Australia Post are trying to double dip with their new "services". Perhaps they are hoping for a future where it is up to the recipient to collect any packaged directly from Australia Post avoiding the need for attempted home delivery.

When I asked if it would be possible to have future deliveries sent to one of the 10 closer Australia Post outlets, I was advised that I would have to register a complaint via the Australia Post website ..... for what use it is consider it done .

[_fly_]

Whats worse is the receiver can complain all they like, and they will listen and seem like they are recording it all.
BUT, AP do nothing unless the SENDER complains.

And for tracking I constantly get on van for delivery 7am and delivered 11am, Then I question why at 5.30 pm it isn't here.
It must be, maybe they put it somewhere because you weren't home, No I was home all day. They have little idea.

I also have a lazy postie, I'm home all the time and if she has something to bring to the door, she's too lazy and cards it (but only half the time).
The other half she takes it to the LPO and doesn't bother to card it.

Lazy cow she is, And you can complain but they do nothing.

After 24 years working with post.....

Oh, And I don't think I've ever seen a disabled person working at HQ.
There is 2 but they got disabled after starting to work there.

[Big Shed]

I wish I could complain about Australia Posts' delivery, but we don't get any.

The price we pay for living in the country, no roadside deliveries either, so we get to PAY for a Post Office Box so Australia Post can save on delivering our mail.

We have to drive 20km to get our mail, and 20 km back.

Oh and a rapidly increasing number of Ebay sellers (especially in China) are refusing to ship to PO Boxes

[malb]

I know it won't ease the frustration for you but I can see some of it from afar. I got out of the Parcel Post game 5 years ago, and I know that volumes have increased a lot since then.

I used to work for one of 14 contractors working out of the Port Melbourne depot, our contractor had 6 guys on the road covering 4 different postcodes. Other contractors had from 2 to 12 drivers (and vans) on their contracts, and some drivers worked with Jockeys as well.

For our contract, we serviced an area with 4 AP operated Post Offices, 6 contractor operated Post Office agencies, and our depot which occupied about 8 acres for receiving and delivering mail, packages, and providing Parcel Pickup. All of our LPO's operated out of retail premises, some dedicated PO agency and some mixed business and agency. Those that offered a PO Box facility would accept packages for the boxes only, no parcel pickup due to the storage volumes and security required. My undelivered always went back to the depot Parcel Pickup, while others working for the same contractor had to return packages to a mixture of the deopt Parcel Pickup and up to three of the AP operated outlets.

Since I got out of the game volumes have increased to around 400% of what they were, and in the summer holiday period we were often running about 50% undelivered (no one home or no safe drop arrangements in place). That means that if we take out two 1tonne van loads a day to attempt delivery, we could transfer about about 1 load back into one or more Parcel Pickups for collection each day, and if the recipients are away on holiday, it could sit and fester for close to 3 weeks (second notice sent after 10 days and then 7 working days before being returned to sender as unclaimed).

Many of the LPO's established their contracts and leased their premises before I started (pre or very early stages of online shopping) when volumes were quite low, and simply could not expand their premises to accomodate the volumes that are being handled today, more so because LPO's are not paid by volume for providing a Parcel Pickup service, so cannot recover the cost of extra space and staff.

I suspect that the 10 outlets nearer than the Parcel Pickup you mentioned are LPO's, though you have a legit gripe if any are large AP operated outlets.

[Timless Timber]

The Indian bloke lives next door to me, drives a parcel delivery truck.

His old Mother from India & his own infant kids, tell us that "he rents a big storage facility" - that's chokers full of any electrical appliance you could possibly want (Some kind of aladdin's cave apparently) .

Takes his family there whenever they need anything, opens the roller door, and emerges a few minutes later with an assortment of brands and models for them to choose from (At huge discount prices) .
Apparently he sells a lot thru gumtree and evilbay also.
It all falls off his delivery truck apparently, but it's completely OK, because insurance pays for it, so no one really loses.
And he is a very successful business man / role model for his family - has a big double story place in a expensive suburb (as well as the slum lord palace next door that he rents to his relatives) and brings out (sponsors) their relatives from India, who all work for him in various enterprises (brochures delivery etc) and he even pays them $100 a week, which is a fortune back in India.
(Of course they all get Centerlink as well).
Australia truly is the "lucky" country.
Yeak - lucky if you ever see your parcel!
None a my business, I don't wanna know.

Cheers

[Sir Stinkalot]

I know it won't ease the frustration for you but I can see some of it from afar.

To be honest it is not the biggest problem the world is facing .... but it does come with some frustration ..... and the need to vent every now an again. I can see it from the point of Australia Post and can only imagine how frustrating it would be taking a package to a recipients home, and then having to take it back again as they were not home. I am always pleased to find a parcel (no signature required) tucked away in a safe position if I wasn't home and I think this reflects well on the contractor doing the delivery.

I suspect that the 10 outlets nearer than the Parcel Pickup you mentioned are LPO's, though you have a legit grip if any are large AP operated outlets.

Yep most are LPO's (although one is also the Adelaide GPO - however parking would be difficult for collection) but they do vary is size with some/most being AP operated. We did have BC very close however it is no longer showing up on AP's website. I know they closed the retail shopfront down last year but as far as I was aware it was still a collection point (and convenient!) .... I will have to ride past and see what is happening.

The more I think about it the more I think AP are trying to implement a depot to depot style system for parcels - removing the option for delivery to the home. They would simply receive truck loads of packages at their business centres and send out a text or email to the recipient advising it is ready for collection (or the 24hr lockers). Given your figures (50% undelivered) you can perhaps see why they would be interested in this. The problem is AP will not reduce the cost to reflect the reduced service being offered, it will just be a level of service that is cut back.

I don't believe however that all of the LPO's are at capacity. I think it is easier for AP to load up the truck, drive around the suburbs and then just bring any undelivered items back to the one depot. I wonder how the LPO's feel about it - whilst they don't have to handle the packages they also miss out on any additional sales of the other goods they sell.

Any idea what the different coloured failed delivery cards represent? When I lodged my "suggestion/comment" with Australia Post they ask what colour the delivery card was - mine was blue but in the past they have mostly been red.

[Big Shed]

Or do what an ever increasing number of people are doing which is having parcels sent to their place of work.

To the point where a lot of companies are stopping this as their mailroom people are having to handle all these parcels and they clutter up a mail room never designed for this sort of volume.

But AP are certainly not on the ball and creating openings for the likes of Lindsay Fox to set up in competition.

[Timless Timber]

The tracking on my jigsaw from the UK last week, said that it was loaded into the delivery truck 0712 am 6 Jan 2014.
Evening of 6 Jan 2014 it was updated to "Unable to be delivered - no one home to sign".

Thing is I was home all day on the 6th and pretty sure no one came (coz my dog goes apeshyte off his tits if anyone comes into the yard and he never made a sound all day).

So I checked and there was no card in the mail box to say the delivery man had been.

I guessed he musta come and gone somehow unnoticed.

So for the next day I put a sign on the front door saying "For deliverys if no one answers - please come around to the back door - I am definitely home".

Next day 7th a guy knocks on the door and I get my jig saw.

I apologized for no one answering the previous day 6th at 1645 when he called.

He looked quizzical and said - I never came here yesterday - this is my first call.

I explained that the tracking said it was in his truck from 0712 am on the 6th and showed that he was unable to deliver at 1645 previous day coz no one home to sign.

He said that's weird....coz he definitely never came the previous day and this was his first attempt to deliver.

In essence you can't believe anything on the tracking websites its all porkie pies - BUT - it makes it look good for the customers.

[A Duke]

Love the way people think nobody looses when the insurance coughs up. We all pay in higher premiums, the insurance companies have to pay for their buildings as well.
Regards

[Cliff Rogers]

Oz Post Sux.

There are a few people in there that care but most of 'em don't.

[malb]

Any idea what the different coloured failed delivery cards represent? When I lodged my "suggestion/comment" with Australia Post they ask what colour the delivery card was - mine was blue but in the past they have mostly been red.

When I bailed, we had access to cards printed on blue card or white. The blue ones for our area were a dedicated 'Pick up at the Depot Parcel Pickup centre' with preprinted address and a map. The white ones were generic and in addition to handwriting the recipient and parcel details, the driver had to write in or rubber stamp the pick up location, e.g. 'XXX Post Office' and the address. The dedicated cards were much quicker to issue unless you had rubber stamps made and prestamped batches of cards before hitting the street, PIA if you have to transfer to multiple Parcel Pickups during the day. We also had safe drop cards so we could leave a note in the mailbox explaining where we had left a package if we safe dropped, but they weren't compulsory.

I had the feeling that individual regions had their own styles for carding, so things could be different at your end, and things might have changed since I left.

[A Duke]

Hi malb,

Thanks for giving us the other side of the view. But like anything it only takes one dick head and they all get tared with the same brush.
Regards

[_fly_]

As I said my postie is useless.
But my local AP courier driver is fantastic.
Works all day non-stop. delivers at anything up to 7pm, when he knows people are home.
Even had him do delivery on a sat and sunday to get thru everything he has to deliver.

[dabbler]

As I said my postie is useless.
But my local AP courier driver is fantastic.
Works all day non-stop. delivers at anything up to 7pm, when he knows people are home.
Even had him do delivery on a sat and sunday to get thru everything he has to deliver.

It's the reverse for me. If my postie sees the garage door open, he swings the bike past the driveway. If I appear, he'll hand mail to me or wave me away if none.

OTOH - AP courier will wedge the "unable to deliver" card behind the doorbell without a ring or a knock unless I happen upon him !!




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