I have had precisely this problem over the past 6 years. That is, until I fixed it. I started softly and got to read the Posties manual at my local delivery centre. My memory is accurate but not precise: the Postie must make the best possible effort to raise the attention of the resident. They seem to be labouring under some unwritten rule that they are not to get off their bike - but no such rule exists. But obviously they should not leave the bike, and everyone else’s mail.
They also assume the written rule that only houses and not units /apartments get a call out or doorbell push. No such rule exists in fact.
BTW its the employees who let me down (small parcels, on bikes). The parcel delivery contractors (often retirees with a van) are all great guys with five star service.
So after perhaps 20 complaints – noting that I was home an no one rang the bell the local Delivery Centre manager got sick of me - and now on my sorting box within the Delivery Centre is a special note - not sure what it says but they have been warned not to disappoint me. Tenacity won
My research has showed that the failure to make best efforts to deliver is widespread and under the current management system is never going away. The reasons ?
Management never want a bike stolen – so the enforced rule is “NEVER leave your bike unattended”. And they prefer to turn a blind eye to poor delivery.
Posties get to go home as soon as they finish the rounds. So the sooner the better. They have no incentive to do quality work but are rewarded (by going home sooner) for card only delivery
SOLUTION: if Choice is taking this up then great A good use of limited resources as this is a proven problem that is not going away. Suggestion:
Get a copy of the AP delivery manual – where it says “best efforts”
Interview quietly Posties and ask what are the unwritten rules
Gather evidence. I’m suggesting those outdoor wildlife cameras- sort of a security camera that is attached to a tree and works with movement IR detection ( about $150) and place them so the postie is recorded. Then send some Express post next day delivery envelopes and record what happens. Repeat at many locations and states.
Put all the evidence to the CEO… NOW we have a story that will change national policy.
I’ll volunteer to run the Brisbane research leg.
Gary
PS - my past research showed that the Australia Post Ombudsman was useless. But its a place to start looking for complaints statistics I would suggest.
What AP is essentially offering two levels of service. For the same price we deliver to a house but if you are posting to apartments / townhouses etc its a pick up from post office the next day service.
( and no we won’t refund and meet the “guaranteed next day delivery” promise and refund you)
JC - please contact me if I can help further on this project: I fixed it for me, but I’m very keen to fix it for all Australians.
Gary
I too only last week had a card in my letterbox to say nobody was home during delivery. And I was to pick up small parcel the next day at my local PO. Card stated time of attempted delivery and I was home ALL day. I know he never came to my front door as my dog would have gone ballistic.
Yes, this happens to me as well, as I also work from home. So annoying because I have to then wait until the next day to collect the parcel which requires a drive through bumper to bumper traffic and a PO which has a total of 6, yes 6, car parks and with no parking on both sides of the street. My heart sinks when I see that failed delivery card.
As I opened this page I was just going out to pick up a parcel. I got the newspaper in at 8.00 and about 9.00 I heard a van door so I looked and there was a card stuck in the wire door. If he rang the bell I must have had my fingers in my ears because I didn’t hear him. I drove the 5 kilometres to the delivery centre only to be told to " come back tomorrow". I’m retired and can waste time with things like this. I’ll go back Friday after I go into the city. I used to be able to pick up missed parcels at my local PO, 1 km away but for some reason it ALL goes to this delivery centre. Maybe hes shy !!!
For some parcel deliveries to my apartment I get a delivery notice card in the mailbox - fair enough since I’m usually at work at the time. But at other times I’ve come home to find the parcel sitting unattended in the foyer of the building. That’s pretty odd - who let the courier in? - and also annoying as the parcel could easily be stolen, and might go unnoticed by me for days as I often bypass the foyers (using the lift or stairs straight from basement carpark to my floor).
I have had repeated problems with this in Collaroy and complained at my local post office where I was told that many customers in the area have complained about the same thing. It’s so frustrating as I have been home on at least 5 occasions this year alone (this has been an ongoing issue for years) when they have failed to even attempt to make a delivery. This usually means only finding the notification card later in the day - sometimes once the post office is already closed! It is difficult to make a complaint to AusPost as they require you to create an account to do so. It seems ridiculous that the PO shop owners can’t complain directly about the poor delivery practices of the post person, but it appears that they don’t have the ability to impact this.
I have noticed that parcel delivery is getting less reliable over the last 12 months. Paradoxically the courier companies’ improved parcel tracking systems means we have more awareness of the deterioration in service. For example on Monday this week I got an email from DHL at about 8.30 am to say that my parcel would be delivered that day. So I dutifully stayed home to wait for it. At 11.30 am I got another email from them to say they were sorry they’d missed me. Needless to say there had been no attempted delivery (ie no knock on the door). I didn’t even see the delivery van so who knows if they actually bother taking parcels out for delivery anymore.
We used to live in a security apartment block in close to Sydney CBD.
We shop on-line a lot and there were numerous times where the Australia Post Parcel contractors would not ring the intecomm and would leave a card.
My wife most often worked from home so this was extremely frustrating.
I would go to the local PO who would say they have numerous complaints about the contractors not trying to deliver parcels but they were helpless to do anything.
I contacted Australia Post to complain about the service but never got any satisfaction.
The Australia Post contractor that services my area refuses to deliver to apartments, even though the block I live in is not a security block and has easy parking and access, and my unit is on the ground floor. I do not have a car and the post office is a fair distance away. So whenever a parcel is sent to me I have to get a taxi to the post office and back to pick up parcels that I have already paid for delivery on. I have made multiple complaints to Australia Post but have never once received a reply.
It is all rather sad because without Parcel Post revenue Australia Post would sink. But Australia Post seems to be at the mercy of the individual contractors who seem to make up their own rules regarding whether they will deliver to units or not. Other places I have lived have been security buildings and I the Australia Post contractors would deliver with no problems.
This has happened to me many times mostly with the deliveries done by the regular postmen on bikes. I called to complain but was told that they could not leave their bikes to knock on the door. This means that the procedure is flaw and they have to find way to fix it. The delivery postage is paid and AusPost has to complete the job!
I have had a problem, just this week.
I was waiting for a parcel, I knew it had been sent but hadn’t expect to need to monitor it every step of the way. When I wondered where it had got to, I found it had been returned to sender!
Fastway say they left a card, but there was nothing seen by us in letter box or at the door.
According to my calendar I did a major task at home that day so believe I didn’t even go out - I wonder if they came at all.
Now being sent again, whether at cost of sender or Fastway I don’t know,
Fastway didn’t try to contact me or notify the seller that there was a problem. Then they had the gall to sound unimpressed that they had had to store it for several days!
Hope that getting a piece ripped off by me will get them to smarten up, but I wouldn’t choose them.
What you need is to train your dog to take the parcels from Aust Post.
Our Lab barks and cries when the Courier arrives and they wait for him to come up receive a pat and then take the parcel to the back door. (then wait for food, after all he is a Lab).
The mailman also waits to hand him any letters.
I have been using the Australia Post Parcel Lockers which have mostly been very good.
It is like a post box but doesn’t cost anything. The lockers are located near many Post Offices and when the parcel arrives I am sent a TXT message containing a six digit code to open the locker. The parcel is there for 48 hours and can be picked up anytime day or night.
Recently Australia Post had a complete outage of this system where the lockers would not open. There was (and still has been no communication from Australia Post regarding the break down). I went twice to pick up the parcel but couldn’t. The first time was at night so there were no staff there. The second time was during business hours but the office was closed (staff were there) and parcel pickup is supposed to be able to ring the doorbell to pick up items but no one would answer.
The third time I rang the hotline to check if the system was working and they said it was (two days later) but now the parcel wasn’t in the locker. I went into the office which was open this time and got the parcel. Each trip was twenty minutes return. This is normally convenient but it is annoying for a wasted trip. Meanwhile there was nothing from Australia Post. When I picked up the parcel the staff said nothing.
For a company whose job is communication they are extremely bad at it. I don’t go to our local post office because the queue is normally ten to twenty minutes. Australia Post has no customer service ethic. They are very public service.
I am still getting emails threatening to charge for storage of the item I picked up. It is up to me to fix the problem with their system!! I have to call them to tell them I already picked up the parcel from them. FFS
Australia Post doesn’t deliver tracked parcels to my suburban household.
I don’t know why.
An untracked quarto book, for displaying on a coffee table,
was successfully delivered to my doorstep, without incident [other than my surprise].
But no attempt is made to deliver any tracked parcels
before website tracking directs me to pickup the parcel
from an Australia Post Office.
Yet, when I have called Australia Post to resolve the ambiguity
about which local post office, their Call Centre hasn’t been able to advise me correctly.
Any business that is paying for door-to-door delivery services by Australia Post,
is paying for Virtual Reality… the service doesn’t exist.
You raise a legal point here . It certainly does say you are paying for a door to door service . I just think they are having problems getting their heads around whose door I do a lot of Gumtreeing and Ebaying and post out a lot of parcels . I hope I’m not paying all the extras, signature required etc . for a card to be left in my customers mail box . I have paid for “DOOR TO DOOR” delivery that’s is what I should get .
Very often, I won’t get a card in my letterbox until a week has transpired without me responding to the website tracking information to check my local post office. [That’s not email notification, that’s just searching the Aus Post tracking application].
Yes, it’s a legal issue… a moot point that I’ve brought to the attention of my favourite online bookseller.
All authority of the august institution of the Post Master General
has been lost through subdivision and quasi-commercialisation.
This entity, known as Australia Post, is the dried husk of that once-noble institution.
Australia Post publishes all the appropriate policies, but displays no intent.
Australia Post is impotent.
I do a lot of Gumtreeing and Ebaying and post out a lot of parcels . I hope I’m not paying all the extras, signature required etc . for a card to be left in my customers mail box . I have paid for “DOOR TO DOOR” delivery that’s is what I should get .