Australia Post suspends its Express next-day delivery guarantee

[imastawka]

Australia Post suspends its Express next-day delivery guarantee as part of cutbacks forced by the coronavirus pandemic

Australia Post has suspended its Express next-day delivery guarantee as part of coronavirus pandemic cutbacks. 

Australia Post announced last week the Express option would still be available but not operate as frequently.    

'We are temporarily suspending the Express Post guarantee of next day delivery as we are unable to commit to this time frame,' a spokesperson said. 

'Express Post is still available but parcels may not be delivered next business day every time.'

The statement noted that several changes were being implemented 'due to delays to our delivery services caused by the ongoing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic'. 

Australia Post has axed its more expensive priority letters service and redeployed 2000 motorbike postmen to deliver parcels. 

Australian posties are now handling almost two million parcels a day thanks to a boom in online shopping prompted by the coronavirus. 

Parcel volumes have nearly doubled in the last four weeks and were up by 80 per cent in comparison to last year.  

The Australia Post statement said 'significant delivery delays' were cause by 'limited flights, social distancing requirements and a substantial increase in parcel volumes as more people shop online.' 

Chief Executive Officer of Australia Post, Christine Holgate, said the organisation was being overwhelmed by the amount of parcels being sent each day. 

Ms Holgate explained: 'We will retrain up to 2,000 motorbike posties to process or deliver parcels in vans.'

This will enable posties to carry more and relieve some of the significant pressure on our parcel delivery drivers, who have been swamped with huge volumes,' she said.   

Australia Post have also started delivering letters every second day in metropolitan areas after the government granted temporary relief from their community service obligations. 

The relief from daily letter deliveries will allow Australia Post to focus on parcel deliveries and clear the backlog caused by the grounding of most of Qantas' passenger fleet.

Australia Post were reliant on the flights to deliver online shopping orders, Express Post and essential medical supplies across the country.    

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/coronavirus/australia-post-suspends-its-express-next-day-delivery-gua...

[eol-products]

I just hope they don't drive the vans along the footpath as some habits may be hard to shake.

[countessalmirena]

I have admittedly felt a little bit frustrated by the lengthy delivery times of late. (One order made from a company here in the Melbourne area on the 30th of last month only arrived yesterday; another ordered from a Sydney company on the 15th of this month was sent express but is still en route.)

I was aware that my frustration shouldn't really be directed at AP. Every so often, a little grain of "I want my parcel!" would rise up, and I'd start to think of AP and how (in my opinion) its management would have done well to prepare a little earlier for a spike in parcels*, and I would then tamp down on the faint frustration with the knowledge that we are in unprecedented times, and that the issues of grounded planes, social distancing requirements, COVID-19-affected staff anywhere along the service chain, and a rise in parcel ordering would of course be affecting delivery times.

I hope AP have done enough now to see the glut of parcels starting to move.

The announcement suspending express post and admitting that they can't "commit to this time frame" is a fair one.

[tazzieterror]

countess, I messaged a buyer of mine today to apologise for a delayed item they purchased from me, and they replied it was all good as they'd recently ordered something located only a couple of suburbs away and that took over two weeks to arrive!

You're definitely not alone!

[countessalmirena]

My Sydney-sent express parcel arrived today.

That gives that particular express post parcel a delivery timeframe of 9 business days. It could be worse.

[tazzieterror]

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@countessalmirena wrote:

My Sydney-sent express parcel arrived today.

That gives that particular express post parcel a delivery timeframe of 9 business days. It could be worse.

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Express Post needs to re-brand as 'Molasses Mail' for the forseeable future it would seem.

Mind you, last week I purchased an item from a private, non-eBay seller in Hazelbrook, NSW, who sent it express post on Tuesday. It arrived here in South-East South Australia on Friday, so timeframe really is a lottery at the moment.

Meanwhile, an item I purchased from a store in Adelaide that was posted last Wednesday still hasn't shown up. In the old days it would have arrived the next morning.

Could be a suitable subject for SBS' next 'Slow TV' episode -- 'Slow Post: Cursed Carrier Of Cartons'.

[eol-products]

I am now getting messages from buyers if i could use other services than Aust. Post due to delivery delays. Luckily I use a courier company with prices that are similiar but I wonder how many buyers are going elsewhere as sales are dropping fast.

[cezm]

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@countessalmirena wrote:

I have admittedly felt a little bit frustrated by the lengthy delivery times of late. (One order made from a company here in the Melbourne area on the 30th of last month only arrived yesterday; another ordered from a Sydney company on the 15th of this month was sent express but is still en route.)

I was aware that my frustration shouldn't really be directed at AP. Every so often, a little grain of "I want my parcel!" would rise up, and I'd start to think of AP and how (in my opinion) its management would have done well to prepare a little earlier for a spike in parcels*, and I would then tamp down on the faint frustration with the knowledge that we are in unprecedented times, and that the issues of grounded planes, social distancing requirements, COVID-19-affected staff anywhere along the service chain, and a rise in parcel ordering would of course be affecting delivery times.

I hope AP have done enough now to see the glut of parcels starting to move.

The announcement suspending express post and admitting that they can't "commit to this time frame" is a fair one.

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I have had some parcels arrive very quickly in the past week (3-4 days from Vic/SA) and one was delivered on Saturday so AP must have added weekend delivery to their strategy to move parcels. We don't generally have weekend deliveries except very close to Christmas.

On the other hand, on 3/4 I posted 3 parcels (2 x extra large, 1 x small) to different areas of SA. They all got to Redbank and got stuck. The day after I raised the enquiry they all arrived in Melbourne.

Perhaps raising an enquiry helps???

They were all in limbo for another week before being delivered. This one was delivered on Sunday. I'm not sure if Adelaide usualy has Sunday delivery.

[tazzieterror]

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@cezm wrote:

...

On the other hand, on 3/4 I posted 3 parcels (2 x extra large, 1 x small) to different areas of SA. They all got to Redbank and got stuck. The day after I raised the enquiry they all arrived in Melbourne.

Perhaps raising an enquiry helps???

...

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I've nearly concluded the same after submitting support tickets for six items in the past fortnight, none of which had scans showing beyond lodgement. Within maybe 48 hours of each ticket being submitted (and most were half that), its respective item had been found and scanned and moved along.

[eol-products]

They deliver something like almost 2 million parcels a day and am hesitant to believe they could find any parcel in a hurry.