I'll start:
Parcel delivery:
I'm in hysterics after losing $500 from a parcel AusPost insist was dropped at the door that I was home for, and now when I wasn't home, receiving a pickup notice at a depot 30 minutes away for a $5 item with free shipping from Dick Smith.
It probably was dropped at his door, But it caught someones eye walking past and they decided they needed it more than him
Not in this case.
Just confirming - "$500 from a parcel" Was there $500 cash in the parcel which was taken, and you still got the rest of the parcel, or did the whole parcel that had something inside that was worth $500 get taken?
Presumably not cash as that's a bit of a postal no-no. Did the sender/business/friend not offer registered post/insurance? It's always going to be a cost/benefit trade off, but $500 is a bit to lose. I've registered things worth only $100-200 and even though it costs a bit extra, i think it's worth it for peace of mind. I know that's probably too late for you in this case. sorry about that.
Sorry for the ambiguity - parcel had contents worth $500, parcel never showed. No, seller (ebay) just had a single price for postage, no option for registered or insurance.
Having bought hundreds of lower valued things on ebay that have always turned up, I must admit I didn't even think of emailing the seller prior to if he would do registered post and update the listing appropriately.
A coincidence that this was the most expensive thing by far I've bought on ebay and the only thing that didn't show?
eBay seller is liable if you didn't receive it and they didn't cover for it or track it. Put up a Paypal dispute (or just contact seller) and get the seller to sort it out with AusPost or your money back! Paypal and eBay are always buyer sided.
In the same sense. If an Australia Post staff took the parcel. The lady is also out of $500.
Already been going through it for the last 6 weeks. PayPal has accepted tracking number from seller showing delivery to the area, not the address. I reminded PayPal that their T&C state they must have proof of shipping to the address (not postcode), however other places on PayPal's site say postcode is good enough. Appeal lost.
Looking further I also saw in PayPal's T&C that items over $250 must be signed for on delivery for the seller to have protection, so I've reappealed and it's still going. Unfortunately seller gave me the wrong tracking number at first and I wasted a ton of time tracking down the wrong parcel.
Somewhat unrelated, but in the Auspost/Paypal mix…
An eBay seller that I'd bought from previously (with no probs) sent me a package that contained 25% of what I paid for.
So, they asked for a pic of the eParcel label — the label they printed and affixed to the parcel. Okay no prob. It states a certain weight but my accurate digital scales showed less than half that declared weight.
What's to stop them from printing their label with one weight, then under-supplying the customer? It's not like anyone at an Auspost outlet checks it at the counter. If a mchine checks the weight in the sorting centre, I'm certain it would only be flagged if it was heavier than stated on the label.
So by paying a few bucks extra (if that) in postage, they're still way ahead if they short you.
Things can go missing, no problem with that, sender might have even put wrong address.
But Dick Smith sell to consumers using a courier service that delivers during business hours, the exact time we're not home. We need some "business hours" delivery box at home that issues the courier a receipt number or something.
You can't expect them to not deliver between 8:30-17:30(average work time including transportation?), that would seem very unreasonable to me. There are these though I've never used one. http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/parcel-lockers.html
I don't expect that, hence suggesting we need some sort of delivery system at our places to accept parcels when no-one is home.
Parcel lockers: my closest Dick Smith is 30 minutes away, my closest Parcel locker 60 minutes.
hence suggesting we need some sort of delivery system at our places to accept parcels when no-one is home.
That's the purpose of a parcel locker. They're slowly being available in more places.
If there is a missed parcel in my home it gets delivered to a post office that is almost a 30km return trip. Annoying thing is that it is completely in the opposite direction that anyone in our family drives and that there are at least 3 Australia Post offices closer to us.
This is why need these lockers at home. We're paying for full delivery, not partial delivery: the convenience of not having to travel to get the item.
Parcel lockers would be a good additional option for a cheaper postage rate though.
And with parcel lockers, you're paying for security instead of convenience - that option shouldn't cost less, the facilities don't build and maintain themselves. If you want a 'home-based parcel locker', get a bigger mail box and a 'please deposit parcels here' sign. Not that this should be terribly regular anyway; parcels are usually carded unless indicated otherwise.
Get parcels addressed to your workplace.
Get a post box that's located convenient to you, incl parking - approx $70 year.
Have all your mail sent there incl parcels. Then they leave a card in the PO Box and you collect it from the hatch.
I cant understand why some businesses/govt agencies insist on a residential address for mail, when most people move home every few years or sooner. A PO Box is key locked which means it's only collected by the key holder - not someone walking by.
A drive thru PO Box facility would be ideal, perhaps a modified gas station. Take out the pumps and replace with boxes at car door window level.
A drive thru PO Box facility would be ideal, perhaps a modified gas station. Take out the pumps and replace with boxes at car door window level.
Give that man a medal!
when most people move home every few years or sooner
LOL. Source?
Census figures average homeowner moves every 7 years. Or something like that. Google or govt stats will supply more accurate data if Doofus requires.
Moves= relocates, upsizes, downsizes, sells, shifts etc.
Point is - PO Boxes are so convenient and cheap, I've had one longer than my longest residential address.
My workplace is home, I'm there 99% of the time working 3m from the front door. This $5 thing from Dick Smith attempted delivery on New Year's Eve at 4pm, one of the few times I have a life.
This is the first time I've received an attempted delivery card despite receiving 2-3 packages in the mail per week, so it isn't a big problem for me, but surely it is for others that don't have someone at home during the day.
I also recall when I worked for a big company, they didn't like personal items coming to the workplace. Parcels sent to the company's address also spent a day or three in the company's mail system as well.
A PO Box is still area dependent. We need a virtual delivery address that is correlated to physical address by a database, same as a DNS converting a domain name to IP address, or number porting on mobile phones.
I agree whole-heartedly with your statement about getting a PO box. The thing that makes me really mad is when you buy things online and the store says they won't ship to PO boxes. That infuriates me. Why do they think we have PO boxes in the first place?
2rite
But many shops won't touch Australia Post and only use couriers. Can they put things in PO Boxes? I wouldn't have thought so.
Being a legal mailing address, I really can't see why this should not be allowed. Having a guarantor representing the group of post office boxes or a way to deliver properly should be a criteria for selling PO Box spaces.
The couriers probably don't want to line up at the post office with your parcel. The lines can be very long….
Wow you gotta be living in some area which ain't very safe to have things stolen from your door step.
So if I was working 3m from the front door from 2 hours before the stated 10am delivery time to 3hr after it without even visiting the bathroom anxiously awaiting delivery, with an inside dog that barks hearing the slightest noise, the front door not visible from the street due to hedges, in a semi-rural area with hardly any pedestrians and if so, they're far across the other side of the street where the footpath is, you believe the parcel was stolen from the door step as opposed to wrongly addressed or lost in the mail?
100% agree, having a PO Box because we work full time, and courier companies turning around and saying we won't deliver to a PO Box (not sure if Aus Post is to blame for this) and they won't leave a package unattended at home, means wtf. is someone who works during normal hours to do, without having all of their personal mail re-directed to work.
This is a joke of a system. We're paying delivery companies lots of money to deliver the items and it seems it's more at their convenience than ours.
Having to travel out of our way to go to them or their closest 'depot', or wait days in storage for missed deliveries. Really, there should be a better way.
So is what you're saying, that couriers should deliver outside of business hours? I'd hate to be a courier with those conditions!
We're paying delivery companies lots of money to deliver the items
They do deliver it to your house…
and it seems it's more at their convenience than ours.
It's impossible to deliver at each person's convenience.
No what I'm really saying is that a PO Box should be able to be delivered to - that they expect you to be at your house during business hours is the joke. Never mention after hours deliveries, however, not sure why Saturdays are excluded from someone who wants to be the no.1 delivery company.
I'll add to this. Te Aus Post parcel lockers also won't take deliveries that require signing, or are bigger than a certain size or that come from a courier.
It seems that all of the courier companies can not come together and rent some small shop fronts as convenient pick-up locations (secondary depots) in larger metro areas, sure would be nice to have some alternate 'service'.
What about using an intermediary service like MailPlus or a P.A.
Seems a little overkill for personal mail.
MailPlus would be ideal for some small offices I know, that use a PO Box to centralise their mail. MP wouldn't stop the no PO Box delivery issue. Obvious but worth noting it would be null for offices that would normally be attended, i.e. the majority.
Is P.A. a Personal Assistant or some other Postal service. Having a look at a one off pick-up from depot to PO Box would be $25 additional (on top of the courier fees already paid).
The contractors for AP have a rough time over xmas and just get sloppy.
I was waiting on the delivery of an Xmas present for my 2 year old nephew. My dad had a heart attack and I had to leave to go 'home' (in another city) a couple of days earlier than planned. It never occurred to me to check the mail as I'd been home all day and left at 5pm. Didn't have a knock on the door.
Turns out the contractor just carded us and didn't bother knocking or briging it to my door. Had my housemate go pick it up and repost it to where I was (for an additional $40). Made a formal complaint and while under the conditions was a little different and I would have been able to go pick it up the next day, the fact is they never bothered to knock.
I have had the same thing happen to me several times over the last couple of months - been home all day, only to find a card on my screen door when I go to go outside!
I have just been speaking to a postie mate of mine and he tells me that during the Xmas holiday rush it can sometimes be almost impossible to delivery everything in a round (or day). He told me that to try and combat some of this during their rounds they will have certain packages carded (ie they have no intention of delivering it to you and will leave you a card to pick it up from the local office). He claimed that some post offices used this as a contingency plan to try and get all their deliveries out in a timely fashion, otherwise he said we would be waiting up until the new year before everything is delivered….
I'm so sorry for you! That first loss must be awful.
Where do all these great parcels go? I imagine walking into the homes of the Aus Post staff and finding the most amazing clothes, homewares etc.