Australia Post Parcel Tracking

[Sir Stinkalot]

The other day I ordered some non woodworking items over the internet from a store that appears to be based in QLD. I received an email from the on line store advising that the item had been sent and it could be tracked via the Australia Post - Track Your Item feature.

Now I have had experience ordering items from the USA before (UPS and USPS) and have enjoyed watching my goodies get logged at numerous points as it bounces it way across to here, constantly being amazed at how quickly it is zipping around.

So just out of interest I popped over to the Australia Post site and punched in my tracking number. The items have been sent in two packages, the first seemed to be lodged fairly quickly with Australia Post and the tracking shows it being "Processed at Sortation Facility" - location Underwood QLD at 8:00pm on Tuesday (I placed the order at about 2:00pm on Tuesday), the second package does not show up. On the tracking site it shows a nice little picture stating that the item has been "Sent" and is now "In Transit". When you click to find the definition of "In Transit" you get the following:

When tracking my item, what does ‘in transit’ mean?

Published 12/07/2013 03.52 PM | Updated 14/10/2013 03.07 PM
When using our track your item tool, the term ‘in transit’ means that your item is on its way to be delivered.

• The item has been lodged by the sender and processed by us and is on its way to its destination.
• The item has not been delivered yet.

After ‘In transit’ the next tracking term you should see will be ‘Delivered’ or ‘Awaiting collection’.

I am not too fussed about the time it will take to get here but I am interested in seeing how useless Australia Posts on line tracking will be compared to UPS or USPS. I can't decide at the moment if the package is still stuck in Underwood and hasn't moved for the past few days, or if it will just magically just pop up as being "Delivered" or "Awaiting Collection". I would have thought that a tracking service would allow a bit more information about where in the system the package is rather than just we have it and we will then update you again when you get it.

Cheers

Stinky

[Pac man]

Yes it is useless since the recent upgrade of the auspost site.

[Mulgabill]

Yes it is useless since the recent upgrade of the auspost site.

Agree the tracking is absolutely useless. I've had experience that where the item is reported to be at the originating mail centre for some days and then next getting a knock on the the door by the Auspost courier.

[KBs PensNmore]

Getting stuff from the US by UPS or USPS, on several occasions I find the tracking stops when it leaves US soil, very annoying.
Kryn

[Sir Stinkalot]

Well that was well worth tracking. I just checked again and got the following:

• 15/10/13 20:19 Processed at Sortation Facility UNDERWOOD QLD
  
• 18/10/13 06:43 On board with driver for delivery today BEVERLEY SA
• 18/10/13 11:56 Delivered

And this is the detailed view of the tracking process . I would have thought that detailed tracking would be handy to enable the receiver to have an idea of when to expect the item and when to be home.

Australia Post could even dumb the process down even further by implementing a simple traffic light tracking system:

Red - The seller still has the package
Yellow - We have the package
Green - You have the package

Still no news of the second package as the tracking number hasn't been found - although to be fair to Australia Post the seller may have assigned a tracking number to the order despite not having the item in stock to send.

[A Duke]

Hi,
I found the thing that was spot on was that I had signed for it. I checked before opening my package and while the driver was still in sight and it said "delivered". That hand held pad sure does it's job.
Regards

[Scott]

I sent a package which costs $30 to post on the 12th of October in Melbourne and it was delivered on the 22nd of October in Perth. For my tracking dollars (about $3) all I got was a 'received' and 'delivered'.

About a month ago I ordered something from the U.S. (Eastern States). It took 5 days to arrive and I received at least 12 tracking updates.

Go figure.

[Scott]

I sent a package which costs $30 to post on the 12th of October in Melbourne and it was delivered on the 22nd of October in Perth. For my tracking dollars (about $3) all I got was a 'received' and 'delivered'.

About a month ago I ordered something from the U.S. (Eastern States). It took 5 days to arrive and I received at least 12 tracking updates.

Go figure.

By the way, the postage from the states was around $25.

Go figure again.

[malb]

Re USPS tracking dropping off the radar once the goods leave the US, there are several catagories of tracking in the US and most do not comply with international tracking categories. Ones that don't map to our international standard tracking system simply drop off the system because no system outside US formally recognises them, or alternatively USPS will not pay the recipient country to scan tracking details and return them to USPS. A typical group that drop off are ones with a code starting with LC or LJ, but there are others as well that I can't remember as its now 3 years since I stopped delivering. I know AP gets very po'd if contractors even scan the ones that that drop out as AP then has to filter them out of the data stream.

Re local items, AP Parcel depots have much more info on every item, but don't list it on the tracking site because it becomes overwhelming and a security risk. But if something is delayed, lost or damaged, they can track movements to virtually everybody in the chain that touches the package from the collection driver to the recipient or parcel pickup centre or post office agency staff accepting goods to hold for customer pickup.

In relation to security, take into account that a lot of business ship multiple truckloads of product via AP each day. It's not hard to work out the customer prefix from the tracking labels if you get a dozen or so packages from the supplier over time, and from there make a search for an random package from the supplier. If full tracking data was released, criminal gangs could identify which of the red trucks on the highway were carrying 20T or so of packaged wine, or which had a load of mail order watches and jewellry, which vans were carrying passports etc. Sooner or later the crime rate against AP and contractors would soar.

Re the second package that hasn't hit the tracking system, check the tracking label on the delivered one in case it says 1 of 2 or similar. If the package is part of a multi consignment, the delivery contractor is supposed to advise depot admin if a consignment is not complete, and hold the stuff they have for up to 3 days while waiting for the balance to get to the depot. Meanwhile the depot staff are supposed to trying to track the delayed parts of the consignment to ensure that they catch up.

Failing that check with the supplier to find out whether the package has left them, and if it has, have them place a tracking request with AP to locate the package. Because your supplier is the AP customer, only they can instigate a tracking request. The recipient is regarded as a non involved third party.

Hope this helps

[Sir Stinkalot]

Re the second package that hasn't hit the tracking system, check the tracking label on the delivered one in case it says 1 of 2 or similar. If the package is part of a multi consignment, the delivery contractor is supposed to advise depot admin if a consignment is not complete, and hold the stuff they have for up to 3 days while waiting for the balance to get to the depot. Meanwhile the depot staff are supposed to trying to track the delayed parts of the consignment to ensure that they catch up.

The second packaged arrived today after I sent an email off to the seller on Sunday. The initial tracking number that they provided suddenly worked tonight and shows:

• 21/10/13 06:09 With Australia Post for delivery today BEVERLEY SA
  
• 21/10/13 12:38 Delivered BEVERLEY SA

​
If I was using my simplified Australia Post tracking system I would only get the green light for "you have it" ...... nothing for the other steps.

I can understand the security issues but if the tracking system cannot provide decent information why bother with it at all?
Why do the tracking numbers need a customer prefix? Couldn't they just be random?

[malb]

I can understand the security issues but if the tracking system cannot provide decent information why bother with it at all?
Why do the tracking numbers need a customer prefix? Couldn't they just be random?

Glad that the second package turned up for you.

The public access tracking system is really only intended to provide confirmation that a package has;
entered the system (been collected from sender, post office outlet or posting box for express package),
has reached the depot serving the delivery address,
has been delivered to recipient or has been transferred to a pickup centre if unable to be delivered.

The public access system does this effectively and would generally meet sender and recipient expectations in this regard.

Aus Post offer a number of tracked delivery systems, including Express, Registered, and eParcel. The tracking codes for registered and Express are psuedo random, the codes are created sequentially, but generally allocated randomly as customers purchase the service over the counter. Even if the customer purchased a bulk supply of say 100 Express pouches with sequential numbers, the set would not really identify them or their packages to the general public. Same cannot be said for someone sending out 2000 passports or 200,000+ cartons of wine every monthin the eParcel stream.

The eParcel codes have a lot of data built into the code sequence, ranging from the senders code, how the delivery is to be handled (Must be signed for, Must be signed for by recipient with ID, Person to Person-must be signed for only by adressee with ID, Requires proof of age, Can be left in a secure location at delivery addres, Must be carded and left at a pickup centre, and others), a consignment tracking number, the number of packages in a consignment, and the individual package id within the consignment.

The system is set up to handle a huge number of variables to cope with virtually any eventuality. The main thing for a customer, recipient and delivery contractor is that the scanner software understands all of the parts of the code and won't allow the contractor to stuff up and for example safe drop (leave in a secure location) something that had to be signed for by a particular person.

The dedicated software that high volume senders use to check tracking for packages uses the senders code component to limit what the sender can search for, i.e the system declines requests to track goods that were sent by others, again as a security and business protection feature.

[Chris Parks]

I sent a package which costs $30 to post on the 12th of October in Melbourne and it was delivered on the 22nd of October in Perth. For my tracking dollars (about $3) all I got was a 'received' and 'delivered'.

About a month ago I ordered something from the U.S. (Eastern States). It took 5 days to arrive and I received at least 12 tracking updates.

Go figure.

The 12th of October was a Saturday and the 22nd was a Tuesday, I'll come back to that. It was my job before I retired to do a large part of the interstate parcel despatch out of Sydney for AP and I will try and explain why it took so long. Firstly all the stuff coming into Oz is air freight, if it were surface as all parcel movements in Oz are then you would not see it for over a month and if you are an old fart like me that was the normal thing not so long ago and we just accepted it.

Posted on the 12th the item did not get despatched from the PO until PM Monday.

Sorted and despatched from Melbourne Parcel Facility by road Monday night.

I presume that a Monday night despatch is sent straight to Adelaide and either road trained through to WA or put on a train.

The timing from Melbourne to Perth, no hiccups involved, is for the parcel to be in WA by Friday.


Sorted over the weekend and delivered to Metro Perth or near regions on Monday and further a field some time after that

The parcel was effectively stalled by weekend down time for about four days. In fact if it had been posted Monday the time from Melbourne to Perth would have been exactly the same. If everything gels and the backlog in Perth is not really heavy then it is possible for it to be delivered in Metro Perth on Friday Morning which is a time of four and a bit days, not too bloody bad in my book. Out of Sydney on Monday it is guaranteed to be in Perth for Friday delivery but that service is by road train with two drivers going at it non stop from Parkes and having no trouble on the trip. The guys that do this are either good mates or totally nuts, they couldn't pay me enough to do it.

[rsser]

As an aside, AP contract couriers give me the right royals by leaving a no-signature parcel on the front porch in full view of the street.

I've had a sign at the front door saying 'Do not drop parcels here' and spoken with the local PO to no effect.

[Chris Parks]

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.

[rsser]

Yeah, the local PO gave me a contact to put my case to. That had no effect either.

Re the couriers (and they change month to month almost) some do the right thing and others don't. I appreciate they're under the pump to make a quid.

I gather Auspost owns a chunk of StarTrack but the couriers who service my area just have an AP courier sign on their vans.