Is Australia Post's downhill service stuffing up our ebay sales?

[797_cc]

Let's face it ... Australia Post have gone to the dogs with rising costs, longer delivery times, missing parcels, stolen items and the use of unreliable contractors instead of their own employees. It's like the postal system of a third world country.

Sick of waiting 8 days for something that used to take 2, for items to be delivered/arrive. Have had contractors not even bother to try to deliver items to myself or my buyers, rather just drive past and flag 'unable to gain access' ... I have seen them do it!

Parcels opened and resealed, damaged, missing ... and higher charges for slower service. Anyone else worried about their feedback taking a battering?

[davewil1964]

Allegedly, according to the horse's mouth (AP website), deliveries won't be slower.

Priority - 1-4 days

Regular - 2-6 days. The same as it's always been

[digital*ghost]

I personally think the worse changes I've seen with AP over the last few years have all been at the corporate level rather than the service level. 

I have had the odd gripe here and there with a postie or parcel contractor, usually over where they'd left a package, but I started using a PO box a few years ago and that's obviously decreased the instances of packages being left in unsafe places. (Not that that's the reason I got the box, just one of the benefits).

The things I really have an issue with is the stuff like removing the 'no safe drop' option unless SOD or registered is used, the virtual withdrawl of discretionary compensation without insurance, even when the fault or damage is provably AP's fault (unless you're prepared to fight them on it), wide-spread job losses, but ever increasing prices and a massive salary (plus bonuses) for the CEO - a lot of corporate decisions in recent times are bound to put pressure on staff, increasing the liklihood of human error, and in the odd extreme case, negligence due to being overwhelmed as well as (from what I understand - happy to be corrected) being paid a pittance on a per-delivery basis when it comes to contractors.

If management would shift their priorities a little, and stop taking their current monopoly in a lot of areas for granted, things could stand a chance of significant improvement. 

[e_traders_aus]

The OP is absolutely correct Aus Post has deterioated lately and quite rapidly, I have had a few parcels lost, and quite a few go missing for weeks when it should have been delivered in 2-3 days, express post also takes weeks when it should be next day and their website giving conflicting & misleading information on next day networks. No compensation for lost or delayed items not even the postage amount we paid for a service they didnt provide. Many items taken to post office and not delivered to home and not even carded (I have seen one of the contracters delivering to me  put a card requesting collection in my letterbox instead of knocing on the door 10 meters away to deliver the package)

Contractors are paid per package and a small amount too because its so competitive which often leads to lack of care when delivering including the need to make delivery more efficient often to the customers inconvenience, difficulty tracking items and finding who is accountable when things go wrong.

I am out Hundreds of $ and a few angry customers because of AP incompetence and it seems to be getting worse.

[cezm]

As a buyer (and now sometime seller) I don't have any issues with Australia's Post's delivery service.

In the last fortnight I have purchased from 13 different sellers (not all on Ebay).

All bar one package has arrived and that one has only been in the system 4 days so I expect it on or around Monday.

The only one I had trouble with was the one sent by courier as the seller would not post to my PO Box (I try to avoid them generally).

In 14 years of buying and selling online I have never had a parcel go missing so I can't complain. I did notice a slowdown in sales when the 250g parcel was removed though.

[lyndal1838]

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@e_traders_aus wrote:

Contractors are paid per package and a small amount too because its so competitive which often leads to lack of care when delivering including the need to make delivery more efficient often to the customers inconvenience, difficulty tracking items and finding who is accountable when things go wrong.

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AP contractors who are paid by the item delivered get $1.30 per item and at the end of the day if items have to go to the PO they get another $1.30 for the bulk delivery.

Self employed contractors who are more likely to be on hourly hire get just under $40 per hour....$38 or $39 actually.

There is no difficulty finding out which driver has you parcel on board...everything is scanned into the system when it is picked up, when it is delivered and/or when it is left at the post office.  If a parcel is taken back to the base for any reason it is scanned back in when it arrives.

[theforcemedia]

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@jorayjen-1 wrote:

so when an item is posted I email the Buyer, let them know the tracking number (and how to track it) attach a photo of their address and satchel/letter and let them know that eBay's estimates aren't to be relied on.

Like all things on eBay: communication is the key and that little extra effort can prevent someproblems by educating the Buyer.

Jo

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Sure, if you're selling 1 item per day, that's definitely good practice. But OP claims 100-150! That would be a big effort! 

[davewil1964]

OP probably should be using AP's bulk services then. Like eParcel.

There are heaps of options for people who post that amount which are unavailable to us plebs.

[4green2000]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Allegedly, according to the horse's mouth (AP website), deliveries won't be slower.

Priority - 1-4 days

Regular - 2-6 days. The same as it's always been

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did myself a test...

posted 5 letters (with empty a4 paper inside) to myself on the 6th jan.

3 were posted as regular mail ($1.00 stamps) and 2 with priority stickers ($1.00 stamps plus priority sticker 50 cents) on them.

from a city/town 250km away.

result was,all 3 regular ones came on 12th jan and 1 priority came yesterday 15th jan. the other priority letter still not turned up.

in the good old days these would of turned up the next day using regular mail at 70 cents. so whats going on?

[x3n0m]

so whats going on?

No parliamentary inquiry for a start .. this country has been sold off to a pack of wolves .. obviously people in high places want to bring this country to its knees so they can have their way with us .. just look at the merger of Ergon and Energex and the sale of Medibank private .. that should tell you everything you need to know .. this is not Australia any longer as apparently Australia "was" about a fair go but not any more as it is obviously all to line the nests of a handful of get rich schemers aligned with the American Chamber of Commerce, the ACCC is their puppet and should be immediately shut down and fumigated .. no this is Little 'America' now and when 'they' say "jump" we say "how high" and can we please put all our money into your Swiss Bank Account so it can be invested through a Caymen Islands shell company .. it is now beyond a joke, we are stuffed and the corporates will soon be congratulating themselves by giving themselves another round of pay increases for their ingenius nikel and diming of Australia to its death .. as we lay here in our death throws they hatch another five year plan where the money is siphoned off the top and a shoddy nonsense ill performing monopoly practices product can be sold off down the line as a viable business to the next pack of greedy exploiters intent on nothing but malice towards the Australian Population ..

That is what is going on ..

[wildwood5012]

HI

I agree a lot of times it is with the seller not posting on time.

You would be suprised at the amount of smaller sellers who have to wait till payday to post.

Not smaller sellers  I am one myself but the sellers new at this shall we say.

I have found AP very good and my parcels always brought to the door.

I cant actually see the workers having the time to interfere with parcels.  But will say quite often parcels are treated roughly

But one should bear this in mind when packing.