Beware of Australia Post - tracking isn't tracked!!!

You can address the parcel to anyone you like, but you can't restrict acceptance of the parcel to the addressee only. Apparently, anyone at that address, who can produce evidence that they live there, can sign. So your druggo mate, can accept your package of silver, high-tail it to Cashie's and be off his head before you know it, and it's not Australia Post's problem. If you paid for the item through PayPal, you can claim it wasn't delivered to you, and do a chargeback.

So if I want to send you a $k's worth of silver, according to AusPost, I can't specify that only you can sign for it. What I want to know, is there some way around this, or do businesses just take the chance of the vast majority of people being honest and build the losses into the cost of sales? For example, Perth Bullion use PayPal, what's to stop me from buying a goodly amount, paying through PayPal, and then leaving the missus (our last names are not the same, so that's hard for a sender to prove a relationship) to sign for it? Not me! you didn't deliver it to me!

 

I wonder if NZ Post is owned by Aus post, because our service is just as bad.

I paid for a tracked item from the UK, within 48 hours it had arrived in NZ and 12 hours later it had cleared customs. At this point it promptly disappeared from the face of the planet. Somewhere between customs internal mail sorting and the onsite NZ Post depo, which are probably about 100 meters apart as the packages are put in a cage and walked there. The package was 'tracked' and they have absolutely no idea where it is or what happened to it. The only response I got from NZ Post was "Ask the sender to resend it."

 

I've used couriersplease.com.au quite a lot for spare parts deliveries within Aus and never had any problems. Not especially cheap compared to Aus post, but then you get what you pay for.

I think if I had to ship some PMs domestically, I would give them a go.

 

Perhaps the live entirely in the New Age and thought it was an email?? This one qualifies for the "wtf?" thread.

 

Looks good, but it looks like I'd have to drive 500 km to send the parcel

 

Maximum weight 500 g, maximum thickness 20 mm.

 

Have you tried TrackingMore to track your Australia Post parcels?

 

A 10 oz Perth Mint bar is only 11 mm thick and only weighs 311 grams so theoretically I could put it in a padded post bag and post it for only $5.00 and that is ok, is that correct?

From Aust Post Calculator site:
Large letter (500g)
Up to 260 x 360 x 20mm
Up to 500g
$5.00

 

i've done the same, but i never sign my actual signature. always just a random squiggle. no way will i give anyone an electronic copy of my signature!

 

My last signature on delivery (Platinum Post) was signed for by my 95 y/o Gran who then just tossed it aside to have a cup of tea with the lady who comes to shower her!
I see-"Signed for and delivered" on the computer and figured since it was signature on delivery that only the name on the package could sign for it....apparently not.
Rush down the PO to have the guy tell me he can't see the delivery address...turns out Gran cant even sign her name so the postie jabbed it in for her! WTF
Last package I made up to send off was all wrapped and ready to go and he says $24.70 or something like that, I got cranky at him and said I saw you charge a guy 10 bucks for a 2 dollar envelope last week(after the customer said, whatever is cheapest), are you sure you can't give me a cheaper option, so he suggests we put it in a five kilo bag and the price came down about 5 bucks. It makes no sense to put more wrapping on in it and becomes cheaper. The logistics of that suggest we are just being ripped off blind.

 

Somehow sometimes it's cheaper to send with your own packaging, sometimes it's cheaper to send with the satchel, depending whether you cross the state border or not.

 

A classic sending is a roll of coins. That comes to 622 grams, with some packaging it's usually no more than 700 grams. I can not buy a 1KG satchel from my post office. It goes from 500 gram to 3 KG to 5 KG. I would say most of my postings are in the 500 G to 1 KG range and yet they don't stock these satchels, why? Going to the 3 KG satchel is just a waste. Providing 1 KG satchel would be so good, less wastage and more cost effective.

So you end up buying the 3 KG, put SoD on it and it costs $16.75 just to send a small 700 gram package. As for tracking, I put in a satchel on the 5th Oct, on 6th. Oct it was scanned at Granville (SYD suburb), and now it is 11 days later and it is still showing Granville. The parcels going to WA, the receiver is wondering where it is.

 

Australia post does actually sell 1kg satchels both standard and express.

However, they made me buy a pack of 10 minimum.

For me that is fine as I use them regularly, but if you don't then you are forced to go up to the 3kg size.

 

Thanks for that, my local PO will hate me even more now!

 

@Ling 11 days....you need to chase that up mate-that is too long.

 

Just recently I sold an item on the forum here to a fellow member and as usual I used a satchel with tracking

I don't put my address on the back, but I do put my phone number, state and postcode

Anyway, I get a call from an old lady saying a package for "X" has arrived at her house

Long story short, she lived a few streets away from the buyer, but the flog of a postie delivered it to a completely different address!

Thankfully this nice lady called me, and I was able to inform the buyer of what happened and he went to her house and picked it up

I called Aus Post and blasted them, and simply got a "sorry" and nothing more

Admittedly I didn't put SoD but even if I did I'm sure it wouldn't have made a difference at all in this case. The tracking showed as being delivered so it all appeared fine, but imagine it wasn't an old lady and someone else who could have easily opened and kept it and we wouldn't know what happened

Got lucky, but it just made me reconfirm that everyone should be using a Parcel Locker (free) or PO BOX, and never use your address. Don't need to pay extra for SoD too

 

Thanks, I might get a pack of them too. Bit of a pity I can't buy singles though.

 

My last one to WA took 12 days.

 

wow-maybe it will land tomorrow then-come to think if it my last package the tracking didn't update until 3am the next day.
I had the box and it was saying undelivered, and the one before that, the tracking events never updated to show the transit.
It just said "scanned in" and the next event was "delivered"...and that was a WA to SYD with SoD

 

^^ Arrived today, 12 days again.