Australia Post's Black Hole Has My Mail

[ameliardcottage]

Posted the following on AP facebook page. I wonder what the excuse is.

Australia Post appears to have a BLACK HOLE, as far as items sent standard post are concerned. During the last 12 months I have had 12 items go missing never to be seen again. During the past few weeks alone 3 have disappeared, with the number of lost items increasing during the lead up to Christmas.

I personally drop my off at my local post office each day so there is no third party involved. I hand it over the counter and assume from then on, it is in safe and honest hands.

I realise that there is no tracking on standard post and I don’t believe I should have to pay extra to ensure my mail is delivered. It should be a given that the service you have paid for is performed quickly and efficiently. But I would like to understand where my mail has gone. What possible explanations AP has for this costly mystery and what actions are being taken to assure customers that the items they post are in safe hands.

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

I post out four or five items a day, almost exclusively through Australia Post, and I've been lucky in that none have gone missing yet, and I've only had one or two sellers tell me that the item hasn't arrived within the specified time.

Conversely, with items I've purchased, several have been stuck in the Sunshine West "black hole" (approximately ten kilometres from where I live) for up to a week at a time before eventually making their way to me.

[davewil1964]

At least a black hole eventually spit it out.

Umm, no. Nothing escapes a black hole, including light. That's why they are black.

[padi*0409]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

At least a black hole eventually spit it out.

Umm, no. Nothing escapes a black hole, including light. That's why they are black.

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Latest "theory" is that whatever gets sucked into a black hole gets spat out into an alternative universe.............just a tad hard to prove. 

[jimmyjoejoe_jnr]

At the moment I am waiting on a tracked parcel (I live in Newcastle NSW )which was posted from Dareton NSW on the 31st July it then went to Vic then back to Chullora and now is in Winella NT.I just rang Auspost and was told it still could be delivered within the time frame which ends tomorrow.What a joke,I in no way blame the seller as once posted it is out of there control.AusPost really need to get their act together this is happening to often.

[the_p_nut1975]

We have the same problem, we loose 10-20 small items a month. We do the over the counter drop each day. The items that go missing are always the STD post items, Non Tracked... Envolope sized stuff. Real pain in the butt.. This year is definatly worse than 2015... Along with some really bad delivery times...

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@jimmyjoejoe_jnr wrote:

At the moment I am waiting on a tracked parcel (I live in Newcastle NSW )which was posted from Dareton NSW on the 31st July it then went to Vic then back to Chullora and now is in Winella NT.I just rang Auspost and was told it still could be delivered within the time frame which ends tomorrow.What a joke,I in no way blame the seller as once posted it is out of there control.AusPost really need to get their act together this is happening to often.

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Just as an aside, I can personally attest that the people that run Dareton NSW 2717 Post Office are among the best I have ever had to deal with.

Friendly, knowledgeable, helpful, personal service from the most wonderful couple you could ever hope to deal with at a country PO.

[chameleon54]

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@ameliardcottage wrote:

I partially agree. There are definetly some that will have a go. Unfortunetally this has been a problem since before the changes, only difference is now you have no choice but to refund.

I used to post in street boxes but too mant items were going missing so I opened an AP account now everything had a postage paid stamp and has to be taken to the post office. (cheaper postage cost are a bonus). Less item went missing but still a problem.

I like your solution, but as I have to take items to the post office I think they might question fake stickers.

Ideally I would like AP to recognise they have a problem whether it be faults equipment or sticky fingers and do something about it, but I guess I might be waiting a long timer.

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 I did run the idea past my local PO staff before I purchased the stickers.

I take all of my mail direct to my local post office and mail it over the counter. The staff have all been very supportive of the stickers. I suspect they get a bit tired of the " wheres my item" questions from ebay buyers and sellers alike. I had the centre manager process my mail today for the first time and she was fine with the stickers.

 On a couple of occasions I have also lodged them at other Post offices. The staff do always ask  what they are, but have never had any problems.

[ameliardcottage]

I am surprised that the staff are ok with them. Where did you buy the stickers. I would like to give it a go.

[clarry100]

I would recommend you try this as well. Our local PO had no problems with it when asked. In fact they giggled.

Doing exactly this about 2-years ago has cut our INR claims for untracked large letters by a factor of about 10-times.

Just gives the appearance that the item is tracked and puts off the would be scammers.

They will then target someone else who is an easier target unfortunately.

We are now quite sure that the vast majority of messages we get about "where is my item" are genuine.

We lose about 1 in 1,000 now where we send a replacement out.

IMO the real scammers will shy away from raising a formal INR case as they will know this records it on their account record.

That would simply cramp their style for future repeats.

We never (well... extremely rarely anyway) get formal INR claims just messages stating it has not arrived as yet.

Then we have a message process in place to follow to deal with it.

If they did go formal INR case then we would refund immediately rather than send out a replacement item with tracking.

Doing it this way avoids any defect as its all over before ebay step in.

[twyngwyn]

Here's some:

eBay item number:

152194511798