To crack a nut, you use a hammer.

The Sauce Code
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I have become particularly sensitive to the value of time and the people who piss it away doing stupid and pointless shit.

There was a crowd of "snivelling comiserators"  gathered there, at the Australia Post Facebook Page the other day, "sitting around" and pissing and moaning to the world and each other, with the "They did this to me" and "We had that happen to us" followed by the "Oh Australia Post - their service is AWFUL and they COST so much" routine.

As if that would really effect a change - and none of them - not one of them, would take any personal responsibility for effecting changes within their own lives and within their own communities.

I saw their crap and I just went "Fuck you." - because “Talk - like the people who say everything and do nothing, is cheap”.

Do your research - read these, then come back here:

http://divisionoflabour.com/archives/003684.php

http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN.html

The fine art of clandestine theft.

So without including the finer points and averages and associated issues, like seasonal variations, holidays etc...

I figure that to pluck a mythical figure out of thin air, say we have an area of 1,000 houses getting deliveries on any given day, and 10% of all of the households get a parcel on average.

We have specialialised the manufacturing, marketing and distribution in commerce to a fine degree, so that when it comes to the final leg of the distribution network, we collectively assign the task to "The Postie".

Now if the postie delivers all of the 100 packages in the day, that comes with a cost of say $250 to employ them for the whole day, to undertake this task - this cost is amortised or distributed along with the mail, to be 40c per household, or say 4 houses per minute.

But when the postie says "Fuck you, I will just card the lot of them (or not even that)", then each of the 100 houses that are supposed to get delivered packages, then has to individually, go to the post office or the mail centre, and get the packages themselves.

Each householder, then has an expenditure of say $55 an hour. totalling 100 hours and $5,500 - unclaimed wages - in acting as ones own courier, loss in work time at home etc., the unpaid babysitting, laundry, domestics, etc., etc., etc.. including overheads like fuel, electricity, insurance's, maintenance etc.

Then we get say 4 minutes to handle each parcel at the post office, at $55 per hour, 100 times, that costs ~$370.

And we also get the issues of double handling, returns to Sender etc...

Which just jacks up to losses astronomically.

And LOTS of angry customers, lots and lots and lots of time wasted on the phone calls, to the national crawl centre, lots of lies, being given the run around etc., etc., etc.,

The people of the national crawl centre, like 3 legged race horses, are a financial black hole in their own right....

And all of this pissing away the time for being alive, of the lives of thousands and thousands and thousands of people, wasting their time, their money, their resources etc., thanks to the singular acts of bastard posties and postal workers all over the nation.... which are incalculable in their own right and exponential in their expansion.

This is the covert theft.

And all the whiners and snivellers, pissing and moaning - and refusing to anything except mill around like lost sheep, and refusing act for themselves and their communities greater good, by spending a measly $100 or $200 either individually or between them, on photocopying and door knocking and bill posting on the power poles etc.. to get the community acting as one, to stop the resources of the people being pissed away through bad service and a lack of "someone else" to fix it.

Fuck them.

Day in day out, month in month out, year in and year out, for every 1000 homes that get mail, 100 don't get the packages, and every day, it costs the people of that community $5,500- and that is just the starting price.

And not one of the layabout whiners who piss and moan on the Australia Post face book page, will get off their arses and make the deliveries start happening.

"Oh Oh it's Australia Posts job, they are supposed to deliver the packages."

And how many times have you complained?

"Oh yeah but - Oh Oh Oh..."

I hold snivellers and whiners in contempt.

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-:-

How to solve your getting carded when you are home problem.

Write your local post offices a letter telling them that you intend to charge a $55 collection fee, for every time that you get carded when you are home and then have to go to the post office, and then issue a written bill with a 28 day demand for payment to the post office for every time that you have to go there because you were carded instead of getting the package delivered to the door as per contract.

Do a form letter for it, and give copies to all your neighbours to use as well - in the entire suburb.

Use the post offices address in the title, space for a hand written date, the notice of a the $55 collection fee, and a dotted or underlined area to add their own name, address and signature.

Add in a simple "Are you tired of getting carded when you are at home" 1/3 page intro paper clipped onto the letter, tell them they are free to make as many copies of them as they want - but don't bother wasting an envelope when you hand deliver it.

Stick an A3 enlarged photo copy of the letter (in bold font) on all the power poles in the area, stick them in all the letter boxes... do a daily bike ride and slowly cover the whole suburb /mail run of this post office, send letters to the local chamber of commerce, the council, hand deliver to all the shops in the area, and all the clubs, community groups, etc., and everyone and everything that gets mail delivery to an address.....

And think of the Australia Post Customer Care Team sucking their coffees through their Tim Tams, while sitting on their freckles warming the seat at Australia Post, providing exemplary service in the form of talking out their arses at you; as well as the local rat bag posties running their daily petrol powered "card-a-thon", while you do it.

Your heart shall be gladdened, you shall meet your neighours, and you will feel well and you shall lose your fatness.

The sample letter:

To the manager

XYZ Post Office

Tripping Lane

Tra-La-La Land

date ............../..................../............

To whom it may concern.

We (name and address) are receiving cards to say delivery was attempted, when it was not and we were at home.

We were told that we had to come to the post office / delivery centre to pick up, the package that we had paid to have delivered to our premises.

This is the last time that this is ever going to happen.

The next time we are carded, when we are home, we will charge a $55 collection fee to you for every hour or part there of, that we have to spend of our time, doing your work for you, when we have to come to the post office, to pick up our packages, that should have been delivered.

This will include a 28 day billing cycle and late payment fees of $55 PCM, along with any recovery costs.

Kind regards.

Signature

.............................................

Name

Address

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. -

Mathematical Principles Vs. Australia Post.

(Or how these people can send you broke - unless you get off your arse and DO something about it - Here is the “WHY” and the “HOW”)

You do not have to stay engaged with their bullshit, things like they damage / steal your packages - and only open an investigation, because you ask for it, and 20 pages of forms and 3 months later, they say it's been delivered, case closed, when it has not been delivered - that sort of crap - Well here is how to start the process.

There are 3 parts to "price"

1. what you pay,

2. what you get and

3. what it costs you. -

When they screw it up, your own costs start to escalate.

What are you worth an hour - with overheads?

How many hours of work do you have to put in, to recoup those losses, from your profit?

You might think you save by using Australia Post but - for every hour you spend chasing them up, how many more hours do you have to work to cover that loss?

Will these people who lie, cheat, scheme, side step and give you the run around, ever repay the direct and indirect losses you incur as a result of their bad service? The stolen packages? The failure to deliver? Getting carded instead of knocking on the door - so that you have too - they assume, go to the post office and incur losses in time and money, to do the job you paid them to do?

Not likely. Not only that - they will make it as hard as they possibly can and be as absolutely obstructive and time wasting as they can, to stop you from being recompensed - for the losses they cause you.

Refuse to hire the people - who lie to you, who cheat you, who seal from you, who refuse to deliver the service they were paid to supply by you, who give you the run around, or are incompetent at their jobs or are incompetent managers -- who send your costs and losses spiralling out of control as you waste your time fixing up the damage that they cause you, your life and your business.

Cut the “loss causers” out of your supply chain.

Contract the Couriers.

You can always do these two things:

1. If the Australia Post people who are stealing or damaging your property or do not want to deliver your freight / mail, or do everything they can to negate your claim and waste your time - leave them with their own problems and go hire couriers. There are thousands of them. The internet or the phone book, friends, business acquaintances etc., are a great place to start for good leads and reliable service. These issues should be raised at your local chamber of commerce / traders association / community groups and meeting etc., as to who is providing the best services in your area.

2. When these events occur:

Your mail / packages get:

*Delivered to the wrong address;

*You get carded (or not), when you are home, and your expected to go to the post office instead of getting the delivery to your address;

*Your parcels get returned to sender, without attempted delivery or without ever getting carded;

*Your parcels arrive damaged with the contents broken;

*Your guaranteed “time for delivery” are not met, or are grossly excessive;

*Delivered to the wrong address;

*When a package goes missing allegedly after delivery, or where it was left where it was easily visible from the road facilitating it's theft, or instructions are given that it is not to be “safe dropped” and it has been - and it gets stolen.

*Theft has occurred without a signature, a falsified signature of the recipient has been used, or an unrelated third party has allegedly signed for the package.

*Delivered to the wrong address;

*You get carded (or not), when you are home, and your expected to go to the post office instead of getting the delivery to your address;

All of which include elements of material loss, expense of postage, your time spent chasing this up - which includes personal expenditure in phone, fuel, and other costs, including the loss of social, family and personal time and earning capacity.

3. Ring Australia Post and lodge a claim over the phone for the cost of the postage and or the item.

Make a claim for recompense being the cost of the postage and the article and reasonable personal expenses.

Be nice, tell them you expect them to give you a response to your claim before 5 working days or you will take the claim immediately to the department of fair trading, or consumer affairs or whatever your states equivalent is.

If they give you some shit about no insurance, then don't argue with them. Just ask them if that is their final position and go straight to consumer affairs and the Fair Trading Tribunal.

Your case centres on reasonable expectations. That is that your item can be expected to be delivered with due care and as per contract.

Taking the claim to the Small Claims Tribunal should only cost about $20 or less if your of limited means, and that money will be recovered from them if (when) they lose.

Most Tribunals have the capacity for hearings by phone, for the people who live beyond reasonable distances from the place of hearing.

Here are the opening pages to begin the process at each states Tribunal. They can explain their own process to you, themselves.

ACT http://www.acat.act.gov.au/

NSW http://www.cttt.nsw.gov.au/default.html

NT http://www.nt.gov.au/justice/ntmc/small_claims.shtml

SA http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/RepresentYourself/CivilClaims/Pages/default.aspx

TAS http://www.magistratescourt.tas.gov.au/practice_and_procedure/civil_actions/minor_civil_claims

VIC http://www.vcat.vic.gov.au/

WA http://www.sat.justice.wa.gov.au/

If the whole community is being affected by theft and failure to deliver, then get your whole community in on the claim.

Do some door knocking, put up flyers, get your friends and neighbors to do a letter drop and hold a community meeting, get a legal aid / pro-bono speaker - and get stuck into the people who are scamming you in Australia Post.

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::

If the Australia Post people who are stealing or damaging your property or do not want to deliver your freight / mail, or do everything they can to negate your claim and waste your time - leave them with their own problems and go hire couriers. There are thousands of them. The internet or the phone book, friends, business acquaintances etc., are a great place to start for good leads and reliable service. These issues should be raised at your local chamber of commerce / traders association / community groups and meeting etc., as to who is providing the best services in your area.

There is a whole range of options, pricing structures and delivery speeds to meet your needs - anything from single documents to deliveries by the truck load. Ask them for their rates from single to bulk freight.

And if the couriers that you do ring, are not able to offer the service, ask them if there is anyone they know of or can recommend, who does.

Did you also know that you can go up to the couriers delivering in your area, and ask them for a card and or what services they offer? Opportunisim has a lot going for it.

Google + Australia = Courier Services (The search can also be narrowed to state or local area)

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Courier+services&num=50&source=lnt&tbs=ctr:countryAU&cr=countryAU&sa=X&ei=1k37UbftE8XXkgXZooBg&ved=0CBcQpwUoAQ&biw=939&bih=399

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Yellow Pages + Australia Wide = Courier Services (The search can also be narrowed to state or local area)

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

--- “3007 results for courier services in All States” ---

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

http://www.yellowpages.com.au/search/listings?clue=courier+services

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

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. -

These are the people who are employing the scam artist buck passing antics, the stone walling, the lack of accountability, the short changing you on insurance, the under staffing of delivery drivers, the absence of middle management - who hide behind the national call centre stone wall - all designed purely to do nothing for you, while giving you the brush off.

Thus these people are the ones you need to contact. Do it - after blocking off any contact with anyone else, and limiting your contact with anyone or any department in Australia Post to the ONE national call centre number, they would be happy to have feed back - direct from YOU - the ex-customer.

Express your true feelings about being stone walled, and being given the run around. Tell them how unhappy you are about being robbed, lied too, the shitty service and attitudes, and the outrageous pricing - where it costs $5 for 10Kg by air mail from China, and it costs $50 to send 10 Kg to the next suburb within Australia.

Tell them - to their faces. Book an appointment with them.

CEO

Mr Ahmed Fahour

Location Australia Post, 111 Bourke St, Melbourne Vic 3000

Postal Address GPO Box 1777, Melbourne Vic 3001

Telephone (03) 9204 7171

Fax (03) 9206 4152

ahmed.fahour@auspost.com.au

Chief Operating Officer

Mr Ewen Stafford

Location Australia Post, 111 Bourke St, Melbourne Vic 3000

Postal Address GPO Box 1777, Melbourne Vic 3001

Telephone (03) 9106 8966

Fax (03) 9206 4119

ewan.stafford@auspost.com.au

Executive General Manager, Parcels & Express Services

Mr Richard Umbers

Location Australia Post, 111 Bourke Street, Melbourne Vic 3000

Postal Address GPO Box 1777, MELBOURNE VIC 3001

Telephone (03) 9106 9724

Fax (03) 9206 4119

christine.corbett@auspost.com.au

Executive General Manager, Post Operations Network

Mr Steve Ousley

Location Australia Post, 111 Bourke St, Melbourne Vic 3000

Postal Address GPO Box 1777, MELBOURNE VIC 3001

Telephone (03) 9106 9581

Fax (03) 9206 4119

steve.ousley@auspost.com.au

Executive General Manager, Corporate Affairs & People

Mr Chris Blake

Location Australia Post, 111 Bourke Street, Melbourne Vic 3000

Postal Address GPO Box 1777, Melbourne Vic 3001

Telephone (03) 9106 7411

Fax (03) 9206 4119

chris.blake@auspost.com.au

General Manager, External Affairs

Ms Jane Mcmillan

Australia Post, 111 Bourke St, Melbourne Vic 3000

Postal Address GPO Box 1777, Melbourne Vic 3001

Telephone (03) 9107 0218

Fax (03) 9206 4139

jane.mcmillan@auspost.com.au

. -

And the Express Post Scam - Just how does this actually work.

The bastards - it's a game of bait and switch. It's NOT actually guaranteed to get there overnight.

Ahhhh Haaaa OK.

They guarantee a free replacement satchel, IF they don't get it there over night.

Basically the guaranteed overnight delivery sales pitch is just a fucking con job - it's in the advertised head lines, based upon what is in the fine print - which leads to a reasonable expectation of an overnight delivery, but the fine print says something else.

Also note;

They NEVER EVER voluntarily supply a replacement satchel, when they deliver it LATE - no they expect you to go into the post office and ask for it.

Sure the real reason that this is a “side stepping” guarantee, is that it's hard to actually guarantee an overnight delivery 100% of the time, for all packages, and the guarantee of a free replacement satchel ONLY is not unreasonable;

But it's the overall issue of , the “Big Headlines” as the sales pitch, which I regard as misleading, the apparently large volume of very slow deliveries that come over 2 or 3 or 4 days or later - or as so many complain - 2 or 3 weeks later; combined with the failure to supply a free satchel at the time of delivery - and being asked to pay a premium rate for the more or less non existent “Guaranteed Overnight” express delivery service - when it isn't.

It reminds me of a scam that runs like this, “Buy a $20 ticket and go in the running to win 1 litre of fresh snow water from the top of Mount Everest!! - Help the starving people in Tibet” - but they don't tell you all it gets you is a day pass to climb the mountain, and you have to supply the climbing gear and air fares, and then climb up there and get it yourself, and the only Tibetan that gets fed is the guy in the booth at the tourist centre, who sold the $5 day pass.

The guaranteed overnight delivery system, runs at the same level of con job bullshit.

The management of Australia Post, it's board of directors and everyone who is in on this scam of “don't tell the public about the consistently late delivery times", and yet still sell the premium rate express delivery mail service - should all be sacked on the principle of dishonestly alone.

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And last but not least....

If you are going to use Australia Post to deliver your packages / express mail / regular mail etc...

(although I would not unless I absolutely fucking had too)

And they state particular terms and conditions, like guaranteed next day delivery, or 2 to 4 days delivery interstate - capital city to capital city,  or things like that.

Pay with your credit card.

And if they send your parcel on a global waltz, the guaranteed overnight express takes 9 days, the postage takes 3 weeks to cover 65Km...

They asked you to pay $120 express on a parcel - and it doesn't get there in the promised time frame.. i.e.  Delivered to the address, on the day.

Fuck them.

Do a Charge Back.

That is what credit cards are for.

If they smash your goods, do a charge back on the postage and small claims tribunal on the damage.

If your stuff gets stolen, do a charge back on the postage, complain to the police, do a report about stolen property, and then do a small claims tribunal.

If your sending heaps of things to friends, customers and clients, and things are getting sent back, people are getting carded instead of a delivery, or taking 3 weeks instead of 3 days - do a charge back on each and every item.

Don't give Australia Post and their bullshit "investigation / administration / terminal on hold call centre / etc.,  the time of day.

Do a charge back, and - 

Start rail roading Australia Post,

Through YOUR procedures.

This is a pearler....

This guy just nails the whole total fuck up of an experience and how many "not smart enough to give a shit" type people you have to deal with in Australia Post - especially when they steal 40 out of the 1000 parcels that you sent.


http://www.logictivity.com/blog/australia-post-can-pull-up-its-socks/

Australia Post can pull up its socks

 

My office had sent out over 1000 registered parcels containing valuable and time-sensitive items. Forty or so went missing. We called Australia Post to check.

After waiting for ten minutes on hold, the postal operator said that she could only look-up one serial number at a time. We would have to hang-up and call forty times to check on the missing items.

If we average ten minutes, that amounts to a full day’s work, for something that should take 10 seconds x 40 numbers, which comes to less than seven minutes.

Upon complaining to the supervisor, we were told to send a fax, detailing the missing items. After repeated calls and letters over many weeks, they replied saying that they cannot look up 40 numbers because they do not have the time (seven minutes) for such things.

Yet it seems that they had the time to take my money for a thousand 3-kilo bags at approximately $8 per bag, each carrying half a kilo; so I paid for 2.5 kilos that I never used (no doubt landing them a huge profit).

On top of that, I purchased the additional ‘Registered’ service with insurance (which is nothing more than a sticker in terms of cost for Australia Post). In all, they made a packet. That added another $2000 or so to the expense, not counting the contents (books and videos) worth hundreds per parcel.

When it came time to query why they lost my important parcels, whose disappearance caused me to lose opportunities, they did not care. I escalated the matter to their managers (plural) and legal officers, who snubbed my company and our request. It took over one year of effort, because we started to fight the issue on principle.

Being a government instrumentality, they were under the assumption that I could not sue them. In truth, many lawyers with whom I spoke were also under this impression. Legal experts advised me that there was nothing I could do. I persisted and pursued legal avenues, and won, because it was essentially unethical and wrong.

Australia Post made my case easier because they had sent a defence lawyer who did not know what he was talking about. I had previously given them every argument in the hope that they would see the error of their ways. No-one paid attention. It was arrogance in full flight. How sad.

During the hearing, the Australia Post lawyer had the gall to say that I was cheating the system because I had purchased a national 3 kg red bag, and used it to send parcels from Sydney to Perth. He estimated that if I were to send the parcels via regular post, I would have had to pay $9 instead of the $8 I paid per bag (plus $1.50 or so in registration).

You can see why I was fighting on principle. A national bag, is a national bag. The fact that 10 out of the 1000 I purchased had gone from Sydney to Perth, was turned against me as if I am abusing the system.

My reply reminded my friend that I would be happy to pay him the ten dollars difference if he, in turn, would pay me for 2.5 kg that I never used as part of the 1000 bags that I purchased. The bally cheek!

Besides, he was comparing what it would have cost if I had used regular post from Sydney to Perth. The silly man should have known, had he read his brief, that 700 or so bags went to Sydney CBD and Metro areas. Using his logic, and using regular post, that would have cost me $5.70 for 20 kg. Yet I paid him $9.50 for half a kilo. How’s that for a lopsided argument. Who’s abusing who now?

Australia Post’s second argument was that they had lost the parcels, and they admitted to this, but they denied responsibility. Apparently, I was not supposed to have placed the ‘registration’ stickers onto the red bags.

The Member hearing our case asked, ‘And how is a customer supposed to know that the registration stickers are not to be used in conjunction with the red bags, considering that the registration stickers are promoted as a service that can be used on any parcel?’ In response, and with contempt, the lawyer pulled out a massive legal binder and pointed to some gobbledygook like Statute 7s Subsection 5 of Clause b5a.2.3.6 of the Act of 1972 as amended 1987 with Parliamentary blah blah blah.

‘And are these legal binders available at point of sale, to warn customers of this rule?’ asked the Member. The lawyer replied, ‘No, but the statute is available on the Internet.’ To which the Member asked if an Internet connection and computer are made available at point of sale. The lawyer retreated and sat down.



All along, during the many months of correspondence, Australia Post kept insisting that the registration stickers cannot be used on the red bags. I would not be telling you this story if it were not for the recent innovation at Australia Post, which not only promotes the use of the stickers on the red bags, but has the impertinence to print this fact on the bag itself, and provides a rectangular area within which to place the sticker!

Yet, all along, they made out that I was doing the wrong thing, despite taking my money and saying nothing about it! If the registration of 1000 red bags was null and void, perhaps I should have sued for a refund, due to their admitting that registration was not acknowledged, which means that I had paid for a service that they did not deliver. The bally cheek.

What can we learn from this? Don’t take money, promise a service, provide a phone number, keep people waiting ten minutes, and then say that you can’t help them.

When a client escalates the matter to a supervisor, it would be a good idea to wonder why someone feels that the matter needs extra attention.

When the client escalates the matter to the regional management team, it’s time to engage some brain cells.

When a client enters into correspondence with your legal officers, and furnishes a thirty-page report, it’s time to sit up and pay attention.

When the client sends you a summons to appear at a hearing, it’s time that someone reads the brief and nibs the jolly thing in the bud because the facts are plain for all to see.

Pomposity and snobbery towards a client who is one of the largest clients in the district, does not augur well in front of an impartial judge who will only wonder how an organisation the size of Australia Post can treat customers so poorly, and wonder how the many layers of management could not make a decision to rectify an obvious failing.

No-one begrudges Australia Post for losing some items (that’s if they were not stolen by unethical staff), but when the company mistreats its clients, who keep it in business, then it had better reconsider its statement of ethics, which says, ‘Australia Post is committed to conducting its business with integrity, honesty, fairness and in compliance with all relevant laws, regulations, codes, corporate policies and procedures.’