Australia Post are the biggest scum bags ever, their contractors are scum bags, their back office, are tools.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sydney/comments/3a48ch/australia_post_missing_items_report_cases_to_pio/

Australia Post - missing items. Report cases to PIO (Postal Industry Ombudsman) at http://www.pio.gov.au and the http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/ for other matters. (self.sydney)

submitted 1 year ago by dugax

As a casual eBay seller, I've experience a number of articles sent go "missing", including Express and Registered. I've been compensated $50 once for a regular parcel that was lost, which had an approximate value of $60, but that barely scratches the surface of how much money I've actually lost throughout the year.

All items had tracking and the scans finish at "In Transit". This creates problems as buyers then demand refunds, which Paypal grants rather happily, at the cost of sellers such as myself.

I finally found and made a complaint to the Postal Industry Ombudsman: 

http://www.pio.gov.au

The TIO has been getting quite a bit of press in the last few years, though the PIO has been relatively unknown. If you ever get shafted by Australia Post like I did: let the PIO know. Australia Post has been somewhat of a cowboy organization when it comes to customer service and quality "assurance" and it's time we make the PIO known amongst the general public.

TL;DR If you are having a shitty time with Australia Post, contact the PIO. For any other government ombudsmen (e.g issues with Centrelink, law enforcement etc) please check out http://www.ombudsman.gov.au/


[–]InstantShiningWizard 8 points 1 year ago

TIL there's a Postal Industry Ombudsman. I work as a postie, and it's the mongs that aren't doing their jobs properly by not delivering packets correctly that are dragging us down faster than we're already sinking. Go for it I say, if the posties giving you grief won't do their jobs properly, having an outside influence pressuring their bosses to pressure them will.

[–]DrFriendlessprofessional NIMBY 14 points 1 year ago

Absolutely. My postie always leaves a "sorry we missed you" card, even when we're home. That means I have to go to the post office at 6am the next day to collect it.

So instead, I got a parcel locker so I can go there at 6pm the same day and collect it. I have no idea about how to get a parcel actually delivered to my house. Except for that one time my wife's $3000 ring got posted back to us, they left that on the porch.

Sorry about your job.

[–]InstantShiningWizard 6 points 1 year ago

It's okay, I plan to transition to another line of employment soon enough. It's too bad, being a postie is fun, but having to deal with all the ineptness of the organisation really drags it down.

[–]swineanddineInner West Warlord 2 points 1 year ago

Do you ever do sick monos on the postie bike?


[–]InstantShiningWizard 3 points 1 year ago

I used to, but it messes up the semi auto clutch and gears.

[–]swineanddineInner West Warlord 1 point 1 year ago

Haha excellent

[–]ThirdTurnip 1 point 1 year ago

I agree up to a point.

Our experience with Aus Post prior to recent problems was very good. One of my housemates gets a lot of stuff delivered and the driver where we used to live was really good. I signed for so many packages (none with my name on) that he came to know me by name. And he was very patient when the intercom was broken for months (beyond our control to fix). He'd buzz and wait even though I couldn't respond, knowing that I was always home.

Moved one suburb away and we now have one of the private contractors - a complete lunatic who has thrown a tantrum, refused to hand over a package and maliciously not even attempted delivery of further packages.

The reason I can only agree up to a point is because Aus Post staff have been really dreadful in dealing with this complaint. Typical of many organisations they deal with complaints dishonestly and in extreme poor faith.

[–][deleted] 9 points 1 year ago

Don't even talk to me about Australia Post, there needs to be a competitor that does a better job.

So I had a surface mail package that was "delivered" to me in November 2014. I tracked it, all the way to on board with delivery today, I wasn't home I was at work.

Package says delivered, as usual, I get worried because they should have carded my package to a post office. Get home, yep, it's gone, and begin the long process of "investigation" etc.

How long did this take? 5 months in total, they said anything that goes beyond 1 month is exceptional, blah blah.

In the end I only got $50 compensation, they said it wasn't their fault the package was stolen. They said that as soon as the package leaves their hand, their job is done.

I asked them, hey does that mean you can throw a package and just mark it as delivered and it's still not your problem? They had nothing to say.

Australia Post are the biggest scum bags ever, their contractors are scum bags, their back office, are tools.

I hate them with every passion.


[–]AndTheLink 1 point 1 year ago

My Story

[–]mendokusai_yo 4 points 1 year ago

consider using Sendle instead?


[–]dugax[S] 1 point 1 year ago

Thank you for the suggestion! I will definitely trial them out.

[–]mendokusai_yo 1 point 1 year ago

it's a pretty cool service, and totally easy to set drop at house w/o signature.


[–]bwooce 5 points 1 year ago

They definitely have been doing go-slow delivery on under-paid postage items. I reported one missing, arrived from Mel to syd after a few months. Similarly one within NSW took 4+ weeks and had an insufficient postage stamp on it.
By comparison the same item sent from Melbourne with more than $1.20 of postage arrived in a few days.
All untracked normal post.
I get Ausposts point but it's a very uncertain way of dinging people who under pay. The lack of a return address may have made that worse in my case, and yes maybe that's an intentional scheme too on the part of the sender.
So in summary, free postage from Ebay sellers can be a poor investment.

[–]dugax[S] 5 points 1 year ago

To clarify, what do you mean when you say "Under paid" postage?
All items lodged via "Standard" post, in the PO receive tracking numbers. I would advise against using stamps in any case, as this means items will not be scanned at all. Typically free postage with eBay sellers simply means that the seller takes the postage cost from the item's total price.


[–]bwooce 1 point 1 year ago

70c stamp on a small padded packet (for a usb stick). I've not looked into what that should really be under AusPost rules, probably too thick to be treated as a letter.
I didn't send it, didn't ask for them to skimp on postage, and have little-to-no control over the average eBay sellers inclination to do so. Sadly.

[–]ronnknee 1 point 1 year ago

The thickness would've been the problem since the weight is okay for up to 250g and a USB doesn't weigh that much. It would've been okay if they had $1.40 of stamps.
70c: up to 5mm thickness and 250g.
$1.40: up to 20mm thickness and 125g.
http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/domestic-letters.html

[–]dugax[S] 1 point 1 year ago

Paypal would be on your side with that one though...no tracking number equates to fair game.


[–]Manky_Dingo 2 points 1 year ago

You don't happen to sell video games from Melbourne, do you?

[–]dugax[S] 2 points 1 year ago

Nope, mostly books and clothes.

[–]Manky_Dingo 2 points 1 year ago

ok cool because I've had 2 games go missing in one month and one of them was Express Post tracked.

[–]miss_marshwiggle 2 points 1 year ago

This is great, thanks! I am a casual eBay seller too and I didn't know this existed. AusPost have been completely useless, even with registered post (they also got rid of the proof of lodgement forms you need to refute a PayPal refund if you suspect the buyer is being dodgy and actually received the item, which has unfortunately happened to me a few times).

[–]RetreatingOx 2 points 1 year ago

What result does complaining to the PIO actually get?


[–]DogPawsCanTypeDownvotes courtesy of u/WhyYouDoThatStupid. He is cute!

I had one recently where an item I sold to a buyer in WA, tracking said it was all received and all good so I refused to refund and told her to put in a claim via the buyer protection thing cause I knew I could prove it was delivered, a few days later she said it turned up and the post office said they had sent it to the same address in a different suburb, pretty sure she was trying to rort me,


[–]ronnknee 2 points 1 year ago

Not possible. The mail is sorted by post code before the street address. She was definitely lying.

[–]DogPawsCanTypeDownvotes courtesy of u/WhyYouDoThatStupid. He is cute!

yeah I thought it sounded suss, I checked the address and there was a street of the same name in a suburb nearby but she was so quick to ask for a refund, think she was just hoping I would refund it and forget about it.


[–]materix01 1 point 1 year ago

I had some items go missing last few weeks. Ebay sellers happily refunded me but I told them I felt bad since I buy from them all successfully in the past.

[–]dugax[S] 2 points 1 year ago

It's pretty crappy, especially for small fry sellers ("garage sale" type folks like me) who are doing it to make some cash from their unneeded stuff. Not only do they no longer have their items, but they are out of pocket with less cash than when they started.

Aus Post is a monopoly and whilst they have a legal obligation to act with sound commercial practice, including compensating customers who they have failed their obligations to, are not pressured by competitors to introduce customer retention policies.


[–]asscopter 3 points 1 year ago

I'm in the process of starting a small business selling online. Pack N Send are great for packages, their budget options are better than AusPost. Officeworks have also launched a prepaid courier system we've used a couple of times, costs less than AusPost and you buy all the labels over the counter in store.


[–]fnurtfnurt 3 points 1 year ago

Except the Officeworks service is done by Fastway who make Aus Post look dead set reliable by comparison.

[–]dugax[S] 1 point 1 year ago

This is a great piece of advice! Thanks...asscopter. That is a name fit for a superhero...



[–]asscopter 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks. Scratch the Officeworks one though, as /u/fnurtfnurt said, if it's really done by Fastway its not worth your time - google their reviews.
 

[–]ThirdTurnip 1 point 1 year ago

I don't know if the PIO is to be taken seriously.

I have a very serious complaint against Australia Post, complete with an independent witness and physical evidence. Couldn't get Aus Post to take it seriously. The PIO merely referred it back to them and said to resubmit it if Aus Post didn't satisfy.

Aus Post completely lied about what the complaint was and dismissed it without even a passing reference to the independent witness or said physical evidence. So naturally I tried to resubmit it to the PIO.

No luck so far. Been a month and a half and the PIO has ignored 3 emails and a resubmission via their website.