topic Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed in Selling

Printed Postage Labels have changed

shoppingbag* — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 01:05:04 GMT

I have been printing my own Postage Labels for years. They were always in black. Yesterday I printed two, and they both have a red bar at the top and no longer do they have "signature required" printed on them. Scanning the barcode shows they do indeed have signature on delivery. No help at the Post Office, just wrong information as usual. I just wish they would admit they don't know instead of the usual totally wrong information. I tried ringing Customer Service, but declined the 25 minute wait. Just wondering if anyone knows what the change means. I was wondering if the red bar indicates "signature on delivery" and that is why it is not written on the label anymore. Has anyone got any clues? I can't find any information on the Australia Post website.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

curraone — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 01:09:12 GMT

At the risk of stating the obvious, maybe you just had your printer sent on "black only".

I have been using Aust Post labels for years too, and they are in red and black, unless I choose the save ink feature.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

shoppingbag* — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 01:42:27 GMT

@curraone wrote:
At the risk of stating the obvious, maybe you just had your printer sent on "black only".

I have been using Aust Post labels for years too, and they are in red and black, unless I choose the save ink feature.

Settings are the default, so no way have I chosen to print in Black, I never ever do that. This would not explain the fact that "signature on delivery" is no longer displayed. The labels show as red and black on the screen before printing, and only black prior to yesterday, I download all the labels as well and that is definitely how they are. All black until yesterday.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

curraone — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 01:52:40 GMT

well we must be talking about different things,my label doesn't look anything like that.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

south.coffee — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 01:54:49 GMT

In MyPost labels the PDF file has a red banner for standard postage and a yellow banner for Express Post. If you have a black only printer the banner simply prints grey or black depending on your printer settings.

If you have a label printer and you have half tone set to NONE / ZERO the grey box outline and anything else formatted with a grey font will simply become white and invisible.

Change the Error Diffusion settings and grey formatting will print when you select Print in grayscale

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

digital*ghost — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 02:50:53 GMT

I assume you're using eBay labels? The My Post labels have always printed with red or yellow banners depending on the service, and the SOD option hasn't appeared on labels through there for a couple of years.

The reason for the removal was - according to Aus Post anyway - because some posties would spot the SOD requirement at the start of the day and not attempt delivery, just prefill and leave a card (for time). Now, they have to scan the package to see the delivery requirements, which isn't done until they are out and about.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

bikeden — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 01:29:16 GMT

We had an order requiring signature yesterday and it didn't print in the Delivery Feature box neither, so I hand wrote it and used a highlighter pen.

Technical glitch or 'enhancement' ?

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

bikeden — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 01:45:44 GMT

Addendum to above. Just went to print today's labels and MyPost label preferences have vanished again and portal requested to update, so a glitch looking more likely.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

khulu74 — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 01:55:14 GMT

Yes you're right, around 7-8 months now i can not see that sign on the printed labels when posting registered parcels, i don't know why Auspost needed to remove it but yeah i was told it only can be seen on hand-held devices and comp. screens when scanned by Auspost staff

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

lm-entertainment — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 09:20:17 GMT

i've been printing australia post labels through MyPost now for over a year and in that time the "delivery features" have never had signature on delivery or extra cover written in. only time you can see what features you paid for on a particular label is viewing the invoice.

i assume you're talking about printing through ebay though. regardless, i'm pretty sure it tells the delivery driver what actions need to be taken when they scan it for delivery.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

south.coffee — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 00:25:30 GMT

When you think about it, this is possibly an 'anti-theft' measure as opportunistic thieves in the delivery chain won't know the difference and this could be a deterrent on which parcels to steal.

All the fixed and handheld scanners would be traceable and have an audit trail of what has been scanned anywhere in the delivery chain and could be a giveaway to identify culprits.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

everard6920 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 06:55:39 GMT

On a related note, REALLY not liking that the eBay code is now on the same line as the street address.

Before:

John Smith

Ebay:3jh423343

5 Apple St

Orange

NSW 1234

And it's now:

John Smith

Ebay:3jh423343 5 Apple St

Orange

NSW 1234

As far as I can see there is no way to change this, because it looks the same as always in the left pane when you select the label, and it's just different on the label itself

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

eol-products — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 07:03:09 GMT

I just add a couple of spaces then a comma to distance the numbers.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

davewil1964 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 07:05:39 GMT

I don't the eBay ID. It too often glitches the address.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

everard6920 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 07:31:26 GMT

@eol-products wrote:
I just add a couple of spaces then a comma to distance the numbers.

Same, but once again - they messed with something and made it worse.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

everard6920 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 07:32:46 GMT

@davewil1964 wrote:
I don't the eBay ID. It too often glitches the address.

Sorry, Dave - you don't what?

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

davewil1964 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 08:37:51 GMT

Oops missed a word.

I don't USE the eBay ID.

Which could come back to bite me when eBay start guaranteeing tracked parcels.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

*tippy*toes* — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 12:36:53 GMT

@everard6920 wrote:
On a related note, REALLY not liking that the eBay code is now on the same line as the street address.

Before:

John Smith
Ebay:3jh423343
5 Apple St
Orange
NSW 1234

And it's now:

John Smith
Ebay:3jh423343 5 Apple St
Orange
NSW 1234

As far as I can see there is no way to change this, because it looks the same as always in the left pane when you select the label, and it's just different on the label itself

I noticed that too, but only as I was about to print the label. I've started using My Post labels, but depends on where the item is going as to whether I use My Post or eBay because some parcels are cheaper than My Post. I found that out a few weeks ago when I discovered I could have bought the label on eBay for $8.65, instead of $8.95 on AP.

Another thing I noticed that has changed is the tracking number. The eBay labels used to start with EBA. Now they look more like the My Post label tracking numbers. There is no longer mention of eBay along the bottom of the label. There is a tiny "ebay" in the middle of the label, which is the only indicator that it's eBay, not My Post.

I will have to be more careful in future of that address line with that ridiculous code thing.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

ilce — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 22:11:32 GMT

I have removed the ebay ID since the day it was introduced and I put it in the referance feild.

Where its originally put it just screws with the address centering especially if its a long address.

Never had a problem with how I do it.

I also take photos of every parcel I post as a backup but thats just my paranoia.

Re: Printed Postage Labels have changed

ilce — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 22:20:40 GMT

I forgot to mention I use also MyPost. Quit eBay's one when they removed the discount.