Large letter/merchandise international post no more with Australia Post

[jillywinkle]

Australia Post has removed the option for large letter with flat merchandise as of now. Which means, teatowels, handkerchiefs..any flat textile usually lightweight must now be sent at parcel rates. I will be still trying it out with hankies and teatowels sandwiched between cardboard and saying 'printed matter only' and see what happens. I've already had one small item returned to me this week by APO, but I didnt reinforce with cardboard. It was soft and a dead give away...they opened it up, cut the end of the little bubble bag, then taped it back down with a printed note. I guess they have to make lots more money to pay the CEO their several million a year salary.

[curraone]

but it's not "printed matter" is it?    So you are making a false declaration to customs.

[gutterpunkz05]

Make sure you keep a couple of hankies for yourself.  They might come in handy if you finish up in a cell/

[curraone]

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@jillywinkle wrote:

Australia Post has removed the option for large letter with flat merchandise as of now. Which means, teatowels, handkerchiefs..any flat textile usually lightweight must now be sent at parcel rates. I will be still trying it out with hankies and teatowels sandwiched between cardboard and saying 'printed matter only' and see what happens.

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  I assume these days customs are running all mail - letters as well as parcels - through the scanner - and therefore the scanner will have no trouble detecting cloth items behind the cardboard.     I really think you are asking for trouble.

[sandypebbles]

100% agree

Not as if OP 'does'nt know' or made a mistake 

(Well, mistake to admit on a forum viewable to the world that they intend doing this)

On their own head be it 

[digital*ghost]

This has actually been in place for a long time (i.e. since all the restrictions were introduced on international mail), it's just that they are only now really cracking down on it.

A seller in one of my FB groups had a bunch of letters returned to them because they were merchandise and couldn't be sent that way - the contents were stickers (which is printed matter), so they are assessing them on multiple factors to determine if they are merchandise or not. 

Better to just deal with the changes now, rather than keep selling to OS buyers at a postage rate that you can't actually provide, and risk the same thing happening - all your mail coming back to you requiring $20 postage instead of whatever letter rate is at the moment. 

[katistrophik]

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@curraone wrote:

but it's not "printed matter" is it?    So you are making a false declaration to customs.

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...and kind of opening themselves up to an easy INAD claim, wouldn't a buyer only have to provide detail/pic of customs dec to claim?

If so I think OP is being a bit foolish as well as dishonest

[everard6920]

I personally think ya'll are being a bit harsh on the OP here.

Yes, it's not within the rules, but suggesting that someone is going to go to jail for posting a handkerchief at letter rate is very, very cringe.

I'd like to know what AP's reasoning is? What does it matter to them what's in the envelope (as long as it's not dangerous goods)?

Japan Post, for example, has a "small packet" category that is specifically for sending small, light items within letter dimensions. So for example, it would cost $11.80 to send a 500g small packet from Japan to Australia, but with AP's rule, it'd cost $22 to send the same (a 500g parcel) from Australia to Japan.

The problem with this "rule" is that it prices Australian sellers out of the global market, at a time when people can least afford to lose their livelihoods, and at a time when Australia Post is processing a record number of parcels and presumably, is making a good profit as a result of that. In other words, it's pretty Un-Australian unless there is indeed a good reason (other than money grabbing) to enforce this rule.

People should be questioning AP about this rather than piling on a seller who is just trying to make a living.

OP: the only practical advice I have would be to set up postage deals for your buyers, and make it very clear on your listings that you offer them (eg: 5 items for flat rate $xxx postage). I did this when I moved to 100% trackable domestic letters from untracked, and my sales are actually up, because most buyers are savvy enough to realise that, while buying a single item isn't as economical as it was, buying multiple items is quite economical with the deals I offer.

[digital*ghost]

Just technically speaking (although I don't like to be the "well, akshully" guy, despite adopting the role often enough anyway ); false customs declarations are a criminal act, so one can logically presume that no customs declaration where one is required is also a criminal act. I doubt actual jail time would ever be on the table, but a fine is definitely within the realms of possibility.

I suspect the (re?)introduction of the 250g parcel rate was a pre-cursor to this eventually happening, since they tried to do it before, and covid just provided an opportunity to expedite the plan without the extreme backlash that was received last time. 

DHL took advantage of the same UPU postage rules that Aus Post did to provide very cheap small package rates to international destinations (just without the thickness limit, which technically wasn't necessary for AP to have), but now that everyone's contracts are up they have more than doubled their prices (making them more expensive than AP), maybe it's opportunistic and just another greedy corporation taking advantage of a situation, but it does at least imply the costs of getting mail from one side of the world to the other are not sustainable if Aus Post only get $3 for a bunch of the merchandise packages, especially now that data needs to be sent electronically to the receiving country when there is a customs declaration (data processing is a surcharge with DHL, and all the details are entered online through their portal, whereas AP would get tons of letters with hand-written declarations). 

I'm not saying the change is 100% justified, I just think there's more to it than greed. 

[everard6920]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

Just technically speaking (although I don't like to be the "well, akshully" guy, despite adopting the role often enough anyway ); false customs declarations are a criminal act, so one can logically presume that no customs declaration where one is required is also a criminal act. I doubt actual jail time would ever be on the table, but a fine is definitely within the realms of possibility.

I suspect the (re?)introduction of the 250g parcel rate was a pre-cursor to this eventually happening, since they tried to do it before, and covid just provided an opportunity to expedite the plan without the extreme backlash that was received last time. 

DHL took advantage of the same UPU postage rules that Aus Post did to provide very cheap small package rates to international destinations (just without the thickness limit, which technically wasn't necessary for AP to have), but now that everyone's contracts are up they have more than doubled their prices (making them more expensive than AP), maybe it's opportunistic and just another greedy corporation taking advantage of a situation, but it does at least imply the costs of getting mail from one side of the world to the other are not sustainable if Aus Post only get $3 for a bunch of the merchandise packages, especially now that data needs to be sent electronically to the receiving country when there is a customs declaration (data processing is a surcharge with DHL, and all the details are entered online through their portal, whereas AP would get tons of letters with hand-written declarations). 

I'm not saying the change is 100% justified, I just think there's more to it than greed. 

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A fine is definitely possible (especially if the person is doing it on a regular basis). Agreed. Best to work within the rules, no matter how illogical or unfair they may seem.

I stopped posting overseas long ago because it was far too much hassle, so it doesn't affect me, but I really feel for any seller whose business will be adversely affected. As I said in my previous post, people just need to find a way to adapt.