Is Australia Post Getting Worse?

Almost Banned on 14/12/2017 - 18:23

I seem to recall, not so very long ago, that letterboxes used to say that if your standard letter was posted before 5pm that it would be delivered to capital cities by the next working day, and to major regional centres within 2 working days.
Apparently now that time is 2-3 days.
However, I have just received an email telling me that they have my small parcel - but they expect it will take a week to come from one side of our wonderful country, to the other. Are they sending it on the Indian Pacific? Maybe by camel train?
(My suspicion is that it is an evil ploy to force everyone to pay extra for express postage)
I think Australia Post is the only thing that has gotten worse AND more expensive with passing time. How can massive advances in technology resulted in such a bad outcome?
How is this so, and why do we put up with it?

General Discussion

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Comments

  • HighAndDry on 14/12/2017 - 18:28
    +15

    Auspost isn't even ashamed enough to try and hide it:

    https://auspost.com.au/general/changes-to-your-letters-servi…

    Introducing the Priority label

    Priority labels cost 50 cents each. They're available at all Post Offices, as well as our online shop.

    Add one to your envelope and it'll get there up to 2 business days faster than a normal stamped letter.

    Note that "Regular mail" now takes 2 business days longer than it used to.

    • dizzle on 15/12/2017 - 22:18
      +4

      Honestly I can understand (not saying it's a good way to go about it, but I can understand).

      Demand for traditional postage has decreased. Obviously letters have mostly been replaced by electronic means, while competition for parcel delivery has increased with more international courier companies active within Australia. To maintain daily delivery with less demand they need more money. For those that don't want to pay more, the price is the same but delivery is slower.

      Normally I'm not for privatisation of these industries, but in a business model that I think is dying I think it's the only way to go. If it remains taxpayer funded I think it will just get more expensive for users and taxpayers, while if it's privatised they may come up with a better model.

      • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2017 - 23:38
        +1

        That sounds great in the capitalism theory but the same can be said of any infrastructure. They are all tax payer funded services that can be more "efficient" on a user pays basis.

        Of course, if everything gets privatised, industry will grind to a snail's pace and our economy will cease to flourish. We will then depend largely on selling our natural resources and land to foreign investors.

        • rodge26 on 16/12/2017 - 02:15
          +1

          FYI Aus post isn't taxpayer funded, its pretty much just a government owned business.

        • [Deactivated] on 16/12/2017 - 07:29

          @rodge26:
          Satire.

      • Rashed on 16/12/2017 - 04:34

        And it pays dividends to the government every year.

  • PJC on 14/12/2017 - 18:29
    +14

    Their normal service was faster 100 years ago.

    • GetOffMyUnicorn on 14/12/2017 - 19:08
      +1

      lol, you could well be right.

    • pjetson on 14/12/2017 - 21:52
      +6

      50 years ago, there were two mail deliveries on weekdays and one on saturdays, and the postie (on a push bike) used to ring his bell when you got a letter.

      • Baysew on 14/12/2017 - 21:55
        +2

        Actually he blew his whistle.

        • pjetson on 14/12/2017 - 22:02
          +1

          I'm old, I forget things :-)

        • Baysew on 15/12/2017 - 10:45
          +2

          @pjetson: Do what I do - have a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down.

  • coin saver on 14/12/2017 - 18:31

    Carefull there is a good chance the email is a scam i receive quite a few parcels thru Aust Post and have never received an email basically apologising in advance. Who supplied them your email Address? Think about it 1wks postage time for a small parcel standard post long distance is pretty standard, parcels from Qld to Adl takes 7-8days depending on day of postage so why would they apologise for standard service

    • chichi on 15/12/2017 - 09:32
      +1

      Actually I have received emails about delayed deliveries a few times now - and they were legit.

  • grog on 14/12/2017 - 18:32
    +12

    Letter from canberra suburb to me in perth suburb took 13 days… fair dinkum 13 days

    Ordinary hand written letter with correct normal postage.

    pathetic.

    Melbourne to perth not much better

    • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2017 - 23:53
      +5

      At the rate the NBN is going, our emails will soon follow suit.

  • jjjaar on 14/12/2017 - 18:37
    +12

    Yes. Letter. Melbourne to Melbourne. Registered. "2-6 business days". Arrived on day 11. No tracking throughout journey until delivery.

  • AdamFury on 14/12/2017 - 18:40

    Been waiting on a parcel from Sydney (Live in NSW) for over a week now…

  • [Deactivated] on 14/12/2017 - 18:40

    Cmon mate,it's Australia

  • Godric on 14/12/2017 - 19:03

    Deffs not getting better, i purchased a PO box in hopes it would actually help with me not having lost/missing parcels, NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURP

  • mysterytal on 14/12/2017 - 19:09
    +2

    I've lost so many things through the post that I avoid using it as much as I can. Items are not stolen from the letterbox…they're lost. I or at least someone is at home and can hear the postie passing on a motorcycle delivering the post. Nothing is ever missed. Things go missing somewhere else. Debit cards are not being delivered. I have 2 bank accounts to mitigate the loss of a card so it doesn't affect me. I've had several other things go missing. I've had mail delivered into my letterbox that was supposed to be signature only. I don't know how Australian traders can survive when they have to redeliver items.

    Don't know if it's getting worse but my experience has not been good.

  • emibel19 on 14/12/2017 - 19:20

    I think you're mistaken with that memory. For years until the latest changes, that next working day delivery for a standard letter was only in your own city; other capitals would be next working day plus one.

    • Almost Banned on 14/12/2017 - 19:50

      Rereading I agree I wasn't very clear. I was a bit annoyed and allowed it to influence my writing.
      I meant within your local city area by next day - major centres outside your own city by two days.

  • dasher86 on 14/12/2017 - 20:01

    It's Christmas. All postal/courier services are not coping..

  • original15 on 14/12/2017 - 20:39
    +2

    Sure technology has gotten better but there are only so many efficiencies that they can make - at the end of the day a postie has to deliver your letter or parcel and the delivery points increase every day. Every new building, apartment and housing development increases the work auspost have to do and have to deliver to, yet with competition there’s a push for lower costs, so combining more delivery points with lower costs of course the basic service won’t be what you remember it to be. Think about how much we pay for postage and how much manual handling and transport costs that might cover, sure we can argue things from a bulk perspective but for arguments sake..
    There was a time when they were making a profit from mail (given high letter use) as well as parcels. We all know how dramatically letter use has dropped, but they’ve still got to deliver the mail and cover all those mail routes even if we aren’t all getting letters, and it’s costing them obviously.
    Machines can help with a lot of the sorting but these rely on clearly written labels to be directed automatically without human intervention and the technology is complex and cannot obviously be rolled out everywhere, hence letters going through dandenong and parcels through sunshine. I don’t work there but have done some work with them, am by no means an expert and am sure those in there now could explain it much better - I’m just an eager observer

    • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2017 - 23:44

      When they build more buildings, add more post boxes, they also collect more tax and rates. We are not just whipping the horse harder. CEO and higher management seem to use that as a reason for increased pay.

  • Thrawn on 14/12/2017 - 20:44

    Parcels from the east to Perth has always taken a week. It’s ground transport… you can only expect so much

  • Diji1 on 14/12/2017 - 20:59

    If only the (profanity) idiots who voted for politicians who privatised services hadn't done it eh.

    That's most of you reading this.

    Are you going to vote for them again?

    • pjetson on 14/12/2017 - 21:56
      +1

      I've tried voting for one team, and I've tried voting for the other team. I've even tried not voting at all. They still get elected. It's hardly my fault…

    • Baysew on 14/12/2017 - 22:00
      +1

      Who are the politicians, who we can vote for, that will nationalise these services?

      • Nugs on 15/12/2017 - 07:47
        +1

        Will Diji1 be running at the next election on a de-privatisation platform?

    • Almost Banned on 15/12/2017 - 00:46
      +5

      You know Australia Post is still government owned, right?
      What has privatisation got to do with a wholly owned government entity?

      Perhaps we should give privatisation a go. It can't be worse than what we have now.

      • cwongtech on 15/12/2017 - 00:59
        +2

        Perhaps we should give privatisation a go. It can't be worse than what we have now.

        It's only beneficial for the consumer and citizens when it's not a monopoly…
        Look at what happened to Telstra.

        • pjetson on 15/12/2017 - 08:31
          +8

          It's only beneficial for the consumer and citizens when it's not a monopoly… Look at what happened to Telstra.

          I'm keen to hear about even one privatisation that has been beneficial for the consumer and citizens.

        • whooah1979 on 15/12/2017 - 15:44

          it's not a monopoly

          What is this monopoly you're talking about?

        • Tnetennba on 15/12/2017 - 22:50

          @pjetson: not a local example, but japan's rail system is partially privatised, and it's been hugely successful.

          Not that we could ever expect our government or larger corporations to achieve that though..

      • Roney on 15/12/2017 - 13:04

        If it is privatised, expect more lamborghinis in their parking bays.

    • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2017 - 23:51
      +2

      It's not the which party or which government, it is the people.

      Voting whichever party seems to end in the same way - broken promises, blaming their predecessors, talk about an unsustainable budget but increases spending near election time, and our national tradition of prime ministerial mutiny.

      As a nation, we are more observant of the footy, rugby and any moving ball more than we care about politics. It seems the only political discussion that happens in this country is blaming the party we didn't vote for or listening to the PC half concocted ideas of a 20 year old college hipster know it all.

      Vote liberal, vote labour, vote the (or for a) sex party. It makes hardly any difference if our perspective of politics remain the same.

  • rambutann on 15/12/2017 - 06:41

    In short, yes they have got much worse.. Same city regular post (inc. Letters) now take two days.. Because they want you to pay for express.

    There are 3 main networks within Australia's auspost system. The envelopes, regular parcel post and express post.

    Envelopes travel by road freight and airfreight depending on where they are going. They often travel via air to remote destinations such as Tasmania, Alice springs, Darwin and far north qld/wa. Envelopes use to take 1-3 days but will no longer take less than 2 days to get anywhere - but you will find that it is a quicker network than the regular post network to destinations further away as they generally get airfreight involved.

    Regular post network is basically 100% road freight. Syd/Mel/Bne consignments travel across the nullarbor by train - I believe that they fill about 6 x 40ft containers a day out of Melbourne. Anything to a remote destination via the regular post network will take forever.

    The express post network uses trucks between Syd/Mel, Syd/bne and Mel/Adl as they can easily make it there overnight for next day delivery. All other major destinations are served by a network of freighter aircrafts that run around Australia every night and first passenger flights out of capital cities to rural locations.

  • BertieBrown on 15/12/2017 - 08:25
    +6

    I get that people sometimes have a dodgy experience with posties but ultimately try and remember that they're people too doing their job, and like a lot of jobs sometimes the things that annoy people the most are beyond their control, such as the policies around delivery times and such.

    I'm not saying that the comments on here are laying blame where it isn't due, I'm just trying to get at that unfortunately sometimes people get angry with people that can't do anything about it and it's easy to take it out on people that are just trying to do their jobs.

  • DebBol on 15/12/2017 - 08:33
    +1

    Answer to your question yes they are getting worse
    Had a parcel I was tracking the parcel went from Victoria to NSW 5 times nothing wrong with address details got onto Australia Post and finally the parcel got delivered to me after 6 weeks of touring between the 2 states

  • reactor-au on 15/12/2017 - 09:05
    +1

    Registered post from Melb to Gold coast, 6 business days and counting. FFS, it's my new bank cards that arrived late before I left Melb. Well done Aus Post.

  • dasher86 on 15/12/2017 - 10:07

    It's largely to do with the change of freight.
    Historically letters and envelops were the primary mail item.
    Light weight, small and much easier to distribute than parcels. in the box than go.
    with reducing letters the revenue declines but cost remain the same.
    There is a fixed cost in that regardless of how many letters be it 1 or 100 you still need to pay for that run.

    Parcels will take over the majority of items delivered.
    Larger, harder, take up more space in vehicles and take longer to deliver.

    One missed delivery - redelivery basically means all margins are gone.

    More drivers required. Small pool of available drivers able and willing to the work on rates offered - ~someone previously mentioned in another thread $1 a parcel.

    If Auspost want to support better service they need more customers willing to collect their parcels at collection points / support this by extended trading hours / mailroom type scenario.
    Parcels are delivered to the one point / sorted for efficiency/ picked up by customer at convenience due to longer opening times.

    Less drivers required, less missed deliveries.

    More convenient for customers who aren't home during traditional delivery hours 9-5 however less convenient for customers who are home (but less i missed you cards even though you were there).

  • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2017 - 15:39
    -2

    And even with hiring migrants it's gotten worse , shocking.
    But I bet oh&s issues, discrimination and papercuts are down though,
    and if half the workforce weren't on stress leave cause X-mas

  • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2017 - 15:41

    I've lost a letter and parcel sent my way this year. Never had experienced missing items from Auspost before.

    • whooah1979 on 15/12/2017 - 15:51
      +1

      Never had

      Never ever?

  • bonezAU on 15/12/2017 - 15:55
    +1

    I'm still waiting for a <500g parcel that was sent from 1 Perth suburb to another Perth suburb about 6km away.

    I'm on day 4 now, and it finally looks like it's on the truck according to the last scan. Hopeless.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2017 - 18:01
    +1

    I think some of the mail sorting machines get so wound up thru Christmas that they start sending mail into the future .
    I wouldn't worry until you start receiving mail before it's been sent.

  • itsDANNY on 15/12/2017 - 21:11
    +2

    All these issues and yet Australia Post's former CEO Ahmed Fahour gets a severance package of $10.8million when he quit! I have to pay for Express Post just to ensure the delivery timeframe is within the same timeframe as what regular post used to be!

    • titan0r on 15/12/2017 - 21:52
      +1

      I know! F***ing disgusting.

  • vicosads on 15/12/2017 - 22:33

    Small package nsw to qld, hit 14 days today

  • Punda on 16/12/2017 - 01:49
    +1

    I'm not sure that posties deliver every day now.

  • nobarginsarehere on 16/12/2017 - 05:18

    You mean privatization didnt provide better service?

    • Almost Banned on 16/12/2017 - 11:03

      Privatisation of what?
      Certainly not the wholly government owned Australia Post.

      • nobarginsarehere on 26/12/2017 - 03:25

        I meant to reply to the Telstra comments, not a new reply

  • whooah1979 on 16/12/2017 - 06:27

    The best way to improve delivery times is for both parties to come together and pass a bipartisan bill that removes the cso. Only then may Ap operate at its best potential and compare with other carriers in a fair manner without having its hands tied.

  • MorriJ on 16/12/2017 - 07:40

    They seem to be getting better for me. I ship a lot of things - small parcels, <500g.

    One went out last Friday from my suburb to same state, arrived and delivered Saturday morning.

    Interstate, seeing around 4 working days at the moment for parcels.

    Letter service is supposed to be priority based. Most of mine arrive same city within 1 working day (ie post Sunday night, arrive Tuesday).

    I think the only thing affected is small letter service right in terms of the delays? I dont think you can put a priority label on a $2 or $3 letter right?

    • bonezAU on 16/12/2017 - 10:09

      Absolutely you can. You can put a $1 stamp and a priority label on an empty envelope and post it if you want.

  • VBO on 16/12/2017 - 08:07

    Letters from Sydney to Melbourne can take up to 3 weeks.

  • locknuts on 16/12/2017 - 08:12

    A parcel from Oxley to Brisbane took 6 business days for us. It's like a 10-15 minute drive. Yes Auspost suck.

  • Adz81 on 16/12/2017 - 10:20

    This week, I had some loan documents that needed to be mailed back to Adelaide, from a country town (250ish km's away)… I went into the post office on Monday, and asked, "I'd like this to get to Adelaide as soon as it can… Am I better off paying posting it here, or I'm going to Adelaide tomorrow, shall I take it with me and post it there?" I received a good humoured laugh and a, "Yeah, take it with you."
    No problems, I'd been planning on heading to the city anyhow and had the day off… Early morning start, but got into the CBD by 10ish, snapped up a lucky nearby park and walked to the post office on King William street. In there and handing the envelope over the counter by 10:30 and I asked how long it would take to get to the recipient, expecting to be told the next day… Nope… Adelaide to Adelaide… CBD to CBD… Two business days. The documents arrived late Thursday or early Friday…

    • whooah1979 on 16/12/2017 - 10:26

      Nope… Adelaide to Adelaide… CBD to CBD… Two business days.

      How much did you pay for shipping?

      • Adz81 on 16/12/2017 - 10:29

        It was a reply paid job by the bank, so I didn't, and I'm assuming the banks don't fork out for priority… but I can remember (and not a huge number of years ago), that next day delivery was a common thing especially in the city.

        • whooah1979 on 16/12/2017 - 10:37

          that next day delivery was a common thing especially in the city.

          Next day delivery for letter service is costly. Rolling back the delivery days helps keep the cost down and saves the consumers money in the short term.

          The best solution would be to remove the cso completely and allow Ap to focus its resources on their profit making services. Let Ap compete against the other carriers in fair way.

  • Foxtail on 16/12/2017 - 10:27

    A one who sends a lot of satchels Safe Drop should be wiped off the planet its a joke allowing a driver to decide to leave or not, we put stickers on all of ours "DO NOT SAFE DROP" works sometimes, its dam annoying customers asking where the item is and it could be hidden out front somewhere (or stolen).

    Also its about time they had some discount between buying 10 and 100 satchels. On many occasions it is easier to call the local PO or distribution centre to find a parcel we've sent but now they do not allow it, have to go through the robot call centre, they really need to lift their game.

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 16/12/2017 - 11:02
    +1

    Does anyone know where the letters mostly sit these days? Some giant warehouse?

    Logic dictates that a postie will still end up delivering a backlog of mail anyway, so it doesn't make sense to delay the delivery itself.

    Does it get processed immediately after pick up and just sit there. Or does it just sit there after pickup for a good while and then get processed when the captain in the orange hat says "They've waited enough to learn their lesson. Put 'em through the machine boys!". It hurts just thinking about a letter sitting a few km away just…because.

    Unbelievably, I'm hoping there's a cost-saving somewhere since it hurts to think we've got an essential service run by idiots.

    • whooah1979 on 16/12/2017 - 11:38
      +1

      essential service

      The letter service is no longer an essential service. It's actually a bottomless sinkhole that's used less and less every day. It's costing Australia at last account $180m.

  • dufflover on 16/12/2017 - 12:39
    +1

    Ofcourse service gets crapper when all the money is funneled into a guy's salary instead of the service.

  • Yamai on 16/12/2017 - 14:45
    -2

    Do you have any idea how far Perth is by road?
    Now add in processing time on both ends (collection, sorting, loading, unloading, sorting, delivery) all at the busiest time of the year? It’s not them it’s you sweetie.

  • lawrencium on 16/12/2017 - 15:04
    +1

    “Express” post is barely better. I sent something via express a couple of weeks ago (Adelaide to Melbourne) and it took 5 working days. I had a fit.

    • BargoBurnsa on 16/12/2017 - 17:12

      I also have my passport in “express post” - Melbourne to Canberra. 4 days and I am now in danger of missing my travel :( So much for the one day turnaround! Now I may have to report my passport lost and apply for a new one.

      • whooah1979 on 16/12/2017 - 17:52

        express post” - Melbourne to Canberra. 4 days

        What does the online tracking show?

        • BargoBurnsa on 16/12/2017 - 18:16

          Only shows receipt of express post in Melbourne… no further updates since last Wednesday

  • Davo1111 on 16/12/2017 - 20:22
    +1

    Seem much the same IMO, consistently inconsistent.

    If they want people to use lockers, they need more, in better locations. Collecting parcels at the post office is terrible. :(

  • Dreamcast on 16/12/2017 - 21:11
    +1

    FFFFFF UUUUU Australia Post.

  • Thrawn on 18/12/2017 - 22:50

    Sent a regular post satchel from Sydney CBD on Friday morning. Delivered in Brisbane today morning !!

    Week before christmas too…

  • payton on 11/01/2018 - 23:48
    +1

    ETA of 4 business days from Brisbane to 40km west of Sydney, ridiculous!
    3 days from BNE to Melb metro

  • Roney on 12/01/2018 - 13:10

    Don't you find the AP service has improved since the Ferrari left for good?

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