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Free Parcel Locker and Parcel Collect @ Auspost

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Free Parcel Locker and Parcel Collect @ Auspost
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wisdomtooth on 27/02/2023 - 18:20 auspost.com.au (2853 clicks)
Last edited 01/03/2023 - 08:23 by 1 other user

This may be old news for a lot of folks here, but I just found out there I've been wasting money on a PO Box I don't need, since I can just direct parcels to be delivered to the post office under my name; it's called parcel collect. Not to mention all those businesses who insist on not accepting PO Boxes for delivery address!

For those who can't collect their parcels during business hours, there are also 24/7 parcel lockers. At this point, the only good reason to pay for a PO Box is when away on travel longer than 10 days.

UPDATE: If one does choose to keep a POBox, some post offices offer POBox Plus, thru which one can receive in one's POBox up to 50 private courier deliveries per year (or more?) for an extra $2/mo (and $3 ea thereafter). Seems like a good deal too.

T&C
Parcel Collect
Collection time limits apply. Items must be lodged with Australia Post to be delivered to a participating Post Office. Trading hours may vary. You have 10 business days to collect your parcel once it has arrived at a Parcel Collect (Post Office) location. Post Offices will accept parcels up to 22kg and not greater than 105cm in one dimension. Letters and standard mail that can be delivered to your letterbox, including Express Post letters, will not be accepted. Please refer to the full terms and conditions for further details.

Parcel Locker
Collection time limits apply. Fees and charges will apply to carriers other than Australia Post and StarTrack to lodge parcels under the Parcel Locker and Parcel Collect (Post Office) services. This cost may be passed on to customers.

Parcels must be appropriately packed in either a prepaid satchel or a box or satchel with a postage label. Parcels must be under 16kg and no larger than 39 x 36 x 64cm in size. Letters and standard mail is not accepted. The Express Post Guarantee does not apply to parcels sent using a parcel locker.

You have 48 hours to collect your parcel once it has arrived at a Parcel Locker, or 10 business days to collect once it has arrived at a Parcel Collect (Post Office) location. Post Offices will accept parcels up to 22kg and not greater than 105cm in one dimension. Letters and standard mail that can be delivered to your letterbox, including Express Post letters, will not be accepted. Please refer to the full terms and conditions for further details.

Other Parcel Delivery Parcel Locker

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Comments

    • kerfuffle on 27/02/2023 - 20:06

      Surely 48 hours is more than sufficient time for you to collect your parcel since most are open 24/7?

      • RogerLoger on 27/02/2023 - 21:48
        +3

        Most of the time but life is chaotic at times.

      • B-Man02 on 27/02/2023 - 22:50
        +1

        I normally go on Fridays unless I'm really waiting for it so it's annoying when they put it in the locker at 3pm tuesday and i have to get it 3pm thurdsay and i don't finish work until 4pm to start with. So by the time you see it your already home Tuesday night. That leaves Wednesday pickup …

    • wisdomtooth on 27/02/2023 - 21:10

      Sure, free 24/7 parcel collect from "friends, neighbours or relatives" is unbeatable (if you can trust them with your shopping!).

  • Switchblade88 on 27/02/2023 - 20:01
    +2

    Like FTTP and EV charging points, I'm sure this is great for all you city slickers…

    • DeepDreamer on 27/02/2023 - 20:36
      +1

      Nah it's better for me and I'm outside of town. Having parcels held at the locker for when we go in is better than a round trip in the other direction to go to the other post office that ends up not attempting delivery on parcels to the home.

      • Switchblade88 on 27/02/2023 - 20:42
        +1

        My closest parcel locker is 200km away though :(

  • whyisave on 27/02/2023 - 20:09
    +4

    Can any delivery company deliver my parcel to a Parcel Collect address?

    Parcel Collect is only available for items lodged with Australia Post or StarTrack.
    Other delivery companies can only deliver to a Post Office
    via your Parcel Collect address if they pay to Australia Post to lodge the parcels with our network.

    • Bii on 27/02/2023 - 20:54
      +5

      no way we know in advance which delivery company we gonna have for most shopping

      • whyisave on 27/02/2023 - 21:19
        +2

        So, all shipping will get delivered to the Post Office.

        If they are from AusPost or StarTrack, it will go to your Parcel Collect.

        If anyone else, it will go via the Post Office, to your home address,…hah

        • Bii on 27/02/2023 - 21:57
          +1

          It's ok but I don't expect it to come to my home address when Post Collect is the only address I fill in.

          It might be easier for them to send it to the Parcel Collect

  • us3rnam3tak3n on 27/02/2023 - 20:19
    +2

    FYI vendors who won't deliver to PO boxes often won't deliver to parcel lockers either.

  • DeepDreamer on 27/02/2023 - 20:35
    +5

    Long time parcel locker user.

    The biggest drawback is that some vendors can't or won't deliver to it; you can't finalise the sale on eBay or Amazon while using your parcel locker address. I think this is because AP charges the courier / non-AP postal service, and they pass it onto the vendor who doesn't want to absorb the cost. A few months ago it was happening a lot when buying low value items on eBay.

    It got so bad that my workaround was to open many tabs with the same product in it from the search results, and add them all to the cart. Then go to the cart and eliminate all the ones that said they couldn't deliver to the parcel locker, and hope that there was at least one vendor left that would deliver, usually for a higher cost.

    For me, I'd pay a premium to have it delivered to a parcel locker (up to an Ozbargain-worthy limit of course). Otherwise if I use my home address, then the nearest post office will not attempt to deliver, and I have a 40 minute round trip to pick up a $5 widget.

    • Loopholio on 27/02/2023 - 22:06
      +1

      "my workaround was to open many tabs with the same product in it from the search results, and add them all to the cart. Then go to the cart and eliminate all the ones that said they couldn't deliver to the parcel locker"

      That is a brilliant idea! I'll use that next time I order something from eBay.

    • RADICALIST on 27/02/2023 - 22:58
      +2

      Auspost doesn't charge more to vendors to send to parcel lockers. It's because the vendor wants to use a cheaper delivery service - Sendle

      • DeepDreamer on 28/02/2023 - 08:55

        Same result, I guess. The vendor has to pay more and doesn't want to

    • Mango1 on 28/02/2023 - 18:48

      Amazon have their own parcel lockers

  • Bii on 27/02/2023 - 21:01
    +1

    I registered for this last year but haven't tried it yet. I tried Amazon locker once it was easy but bit far the collection point one is very close

  • JustValerie on 27/02/2023 - 21:03

    verryyy old news

  • AssociatedHamBoi69 @ Australia Post on 27/02/2023 - 21:09
    +2

    At this point, the only good reason to pay for a PO Box is when away on travel longer than 10 days.

    Just as an FYI, we do offer mail hold services.

    • wisdomtooth on 27/02/2023 - 21:24
      +4

      Thanks, but at that rate — of $26 in the first week, and $6 thereafter — if one is to be away any longer than 4 weeks in a year, it's more worthwhile getting the PO Box for the same cost for a whole year.

      • jjjaar on 28/02/2023 - 07:32
        +3

        Ah but for someone who doesn’t have the discounted PO Box price that you do, and is paying $148 a year, that duration becomes 21 weeks… surely that’s bargain enough to post it as a deal?

  • niyiaw on 27/02/2023 - 22:35

    Helps if the post office sends the actual notification that the item has arrived. Instead of putting on tracking "postage is delayed" and no updates for 2 weeks. Turns out it already arrived at the post office 2 weeks ago.

  • GEE-SHOCK on 27/02/2023 - 23:19

    Collecting your parcel from a Post Office for free is good. However it is not a deal.

  • tdw on 28/02/2023 - 00:21
    +2

    PO box is mainly for privacy (e.g. when you apply for a job and they insist you provide your address) and getting sensitive mail delivered instead of your letterbox where it's often left sticking out ready for some opportunistic scumbag to walk past and grab. unfortunately, some service providers, banks, telcos etc still refuse to send to a PO box citing "security" issues. lol…if only they knew.

    • wisdomtooth on 28/02/2023 - 06:55

      Oh, they do. But they still want to know your home address so they can figure out whether you own it or rent it, how much it's worth, whether you have a mortgage, how much you spend on energy, on groceries, what school your kids go to, so on and so forth…

    • silenthillrocks on 28/02/2023 - 08:08
      +1

      Most can send via email now a days

      • tdw on 28/02/2023 - 09:24
        +2

        i'm talking about receiving new bank cards, drivers licences and mobile starter packs

  • Alexxx on 28/02/2023 - 00:51
    +1

    I wa using parcel lockers but now that my local post office allows parcel pickup from 6am to 9am (so no waiting in line) I've switched to parcel collect. Don't need to worry about having to pick it up within 2 days either.

  • Cheap Gamer on 28/02/2023 - 01:37
    +1

    Try to time delivery for a Thursday so you get four days instead of two.

    The touch screens can be difficult to use. Some screens respond well, but others are really tricky. Once, the whole machine was out of service with the parcels stuck inside. I didn't get a notification that time, but hopefully that's been changed.

  • TanedaR on 28/02/2023 - 02:05
    +7

    It's not free. It's included in your postage.

    • lostgoat on 28/02/2023 - 06:49
      +4

      Its nice to know someone is awake here lol :)

    • wisdomtooth on 28/02/2023 - 06:59

      Are you saying vendors charge more shipping for sending goods to a locker than to a po box? Must see it to believe it.

  • Savas on 28/02/2023 - 06:41
    +1

    My parcels always come with parcel collect..

  • FreshPrinceofKP on 28/02/2023 - 07:54
    +6

    FYI couldn’t see it above but I pay for the PO Box Plus.

    This gets me a real address and the post office accept parcels from other couriers. Mine takes anything so I’m not sure if that’s offical as well as they don’t record how many come in where I think it’s supposed to be 20

    All eBay and Amazon go there. Mail etc go to PO Box. Very easy to go and collect and no one has my home address.

    • I also have my bank details as the Suite address that it gives me in case billing info is shared with the seller.

    Hope that helps someone I find it’s great value.

  • lostgoat on 28/02/2023 - 08:59

    After reading the thread it seems to me unless you want to research which courier company your parcel is coming by its much better to have a PO BOX that receives all companies than OP that just receive AusPost and StarTrack . PO BOXs are cheap to hire anyway .

    • wisdomtooth on 28/02/2023 - 09:01
      +1

      a PO BOX that receives all companies

      Wait, wat?? Your PO takes delivery from private couriers?? Don't think so.

      • FreshPrinceofKP on 28/02/2023 - 12:25

        Yeah have a look at PO BOX PLUS. As you know it is unknown who a seller would use for postage and PO BOX PLUS accepts the delivery. You get a suite address and put that in if they don't deliver to "PO BOXES".

        I have had for 2 years and working at home it has eliminated the constant drop offs for deliveries. PO Box Plus is a new feature that can be added to a new or existing PO Box for an annual fee, allowing you to have up to 50 eligible parcels per billing year delivered to your PO Box by third-party carriers (i.e. carriers other than Australia Post and StarTrack).

        • wisdomtooth on 28/02/2023 - 12:32

          Found it:

          Upgrade your PO Box to PO Box Plus³ for $24 annually⁴ to enjoy up to 50 eligible deliveries per billing year from other carriers,¹ not just Australia Post and StarTrack.²

          1. Fees and charges may apply to carriers other than Australia Post and StarTrack to deliver parcels to PO Box services. Carriers may pass this cost on to customers.
          2. Cannot be used for third party items requiring photo ID and/ or personal signature of addressee, or for articles delivered outside of Post Office opening hours. Size and weight limits apply. Limit of 50 third party articles per PO Box billing year. An additional fee of $3 will apply for each additional third party article received within the PO Box billing year once the included allowance of 50 has been reached.
          3. PO Box Plus is only available at participating Post Offices. PO Box Plus service is for non-business use only.
          4. The annual fee for PO Box Plus is $24 which is pro-rated and billed at $2 per month depending on which month you sign up.
      • GEE-SHOCK on 28/02/2023 - 12:34

        What? I’ve always thought PO Box takes whatever it can fit in…well lol

  • Muffinman01 on 28/02/2023 - 09:01
    +2

    I have a post office where I work, so regularly use Parcel Collect for my deliveries, especially when I know that it's something that will require a signature and be taken to the post office anyway if I'm not home. It's more convenient for me (I get not everyone has the same luxury), and also seems to have things arrive a day or so quicker than if I had them delivered to my home address (anecdotally, I have no actual evidence to support this aside from it feels quicker getting them delivered straight to the post office). I've also had things delivered from overseas without issue, so long as you address it properly it works for everything.

    Doing parcel collect, it's basically the same as getting carded, except you specify the location you want to pick it up from. My parcels are always neatly stacked amongst the others who have non-delivered parcels awaiting collection. If you can find a convenient location for you, I'd highly recommend it.

  • Poor Ass on 28/02/2023 - 09:08

    Po box for letters that you don't want people to steal

  • axistentz on 28/02/2023 - 09:31

    Been using Parcel Collect for years now. Love the convenience.

  • Rob-4x4 on 28/02/2023 - 09:33

    Remember a lot of people who live in Regional or Rural areas either do not have a street address or many of the cheap courier companies will not deliver to their road address.

    I am no fan of AusPost but I wish the government would force courier companies to offer an "Equivalent delivery Service level" (Coverage not quality :) ) to Australia post with a decent network of pick up locations (Remember that businesses like 7/11s that some couriers use are rare outside metro areas) . I have had the frustration of cheap courier companies refusing to deliver to my address and expecting me to pick up from a depot a "convenient" 1.5 hour return trip from home, when there are 2 post offices within 10 minutes from home.

    This would stop courier companies "Cherry Picking" delivery areas at the expense of Australians who live and work in regional, rural and remote areas like farmers etc.

    • wisdomtooth on 28/02/2023 - 12:28

      I wish the government would force courier companies to offer an "Equivalent delivery Service level" (Coverage not quality

      Careful what you ask governments for… 😬

      The nine most terrifying words in the English launguage are: I"m from the Government and I'm here to help. — Ronald Reagan

  • Lurk Hartog on 28/02/2023 - 11:24

    This is a bargain like borrowing books from a library is a bargain.

    It isn't.

  • lostcabbie on 28/02/2023 - 11:52
    +3

    Since this is an FYI type post, let me add another FYI that you can request to host a Parcel Locker if your building meets requirements: https://auspost.com.au/business/business-admin/host-a-parcel…

    I've seen some new apartment developments that come with Parcel Lockers, which sounds brilliant to me if you can get strata on board.

    • wisdomtooth on 28/02/2023 - 12:23

      If they agree to nonresidents coming into the building to collect God knows what…

  • PeeDee on 28/02/2023 - 11:53
    +1

    I'm a little surprised that people didn't know about this. Thus at this rate the parcel lockers may be at it's full capacity. I have been using it and at the moment I have had occasions where there was no parcel locker for me because it's full. So I'm just letting you know that just expect that you may not get a locker because of the capacity.

  • Munki on 28/02/2023 - 12:08
    +4

    Also FYI, if you order internationally and the Australian-side delivery arm is done by Auspost, it can be sent to the parcel locker too. So ASOS, End Clothing, etc,

    Avid supporter of the parcel lockers. It's probably the best idea they've come up with.

    • lostgoat on 28/02/2023 - 13:03
      +1

      If anyone has had the privilege of ordering from Mattel . There is no tracking provided . And from my experience they have been delivered by a lot of different courier companies including Aus post . It appears they send a container to the major ports in Oz and never bother updating tracking once the container items are forwarded .

  • tojy on 28/02/2023 - 13:20
    +1

    Definitely NOT a replacement for a PO Box; accidentally had a letter sent to my Parcel Collect; only for it to have never been found!

  • MrMark on 28/02/2023 - 15:58

    Parcel lockers only work for AusPost / Startrack deliveries. Other delivery services can't deliver to them, but may be partnered with the other parcel locker networks.

    • wisdomtooth on 28/02/2023 - 17:40

      Parcel lockers only work for AusPost / Startrack deliveries.

      So do poboxes (unless you sign up to POBox Plus).

    • djk on 01/03/2023 - 02:57
      +1

      Actually not all StarTrack couriers will deliver to parcel Collect, depends on the company sending the parcel.

  • Bargain434 on 28/02/2023 - 16:05

    Can you use this as a return address when shipping items to people?

  • test8888 on 28/02/2023 - 17:33

    did anyone pick up from Sydney parcel locker 400 george st?
    walked around today only saw Telstra building and no post box from ground window. confused

    • test8888 on 01/03/2023 - 17:35

      went there again and found parcel locker is located at ground level far the end.

  • Cleremy on 01/03/2023 - 09:59
    +1

    Been using parcel collect for years as I was too concerned about neighbor mail theft. And now I live in a unit so a really bad idea to have a fresh-off-the-boat courier leave packages out in the street where the mailboxes are.
    The parcel lockers are handy if you live close enough to one.. I started using Amazon Hub locker more but I found someone else's order in my locker, the best outcome is that you can ring Amazon and eventually get a refund. I've gone back to Auspost for Amazon orders as they have to specifically address it to me, then the only risk is that they place the wrong items in my box.
    I looked at PO boxes a few years ago and was shocked at the price hiking, I guess they want to phase them out for whatever reason.

  • Ryk on 01/03/2023 - 17:51
    -2

    pay for delivery, and then collect it. FAIL

    • wisdomtooth on 01/03/2023 - 18:23

      I disagree, but you do have a point: home shipping should indeed be more expensive than pobox, parcel locker or parcel collect shipping, just as C&C is cheaper than shipping in general.

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