Australia Post Contractor Stole My Parcel - Dandenong Victoria 3175

[neoanderz]

I ordered a laptop on ebay. seller sent it via Parcel post+signature. I kept tracking it from the office and finally it was on board with the driver. All of a sudden parcel was delivered at 11.51am when I was at work.
When I went home no card was left, nobody in the apartment complex has seen it. Item was simply vanished.

Called Auspost up and the operator told me someone has signed for it. How could it be? I was at work. He said there is some scribble starting with my First name. Asked me to send my licence to confirm my signature. Still awaiting for an answer from them.

In the meantime i did some research. Guess what? im not the only one. So many people have lost their parcels similar way. They were simply signed and delivered, but not the receiver who signed for it.

My incident happend in Dandenong vic 3175, Beware guys there is a thief delivering parcels for auspost in dandenong. I cant submit a paypal claim coz item was delivered. Insurance dont cover anything because again it has been delivered. Ive lost money and item.

Im sure Australia post doesnt do anything about this. This is not the first time, Ive had incidents with Startrack (owned by Auspost now) months back where they forgot to pick up my item from the warehouse 3 times in a row. and when received it box was damaged, but item was fine.

The Driver probably still has my laptop. This was dispatched from Clayton South, Vic distribution centre. If Auspost authorities read this, Please track down the driver. Delivery time as per tracking 11:51am Thu 21 Apr Dandenong, VIC.

Thank you

[davidc4430]

you would hope that any delivery person found guilty of stealing things they are supposed to be delivering would not only lose their job but have something that would show up on any future background checks for employment.

and that when going through job training this was made clear so all staff know the ramifications of stealing from customers.

[lyndal1838]

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@audio-spot wrote:
Star Track may be different because I believe most of the fleet are owned by AP, so would have GPS data logging per vehicle. Not sure about their hand scanners.

AP parcel contractors supply their own vans, as far as I know, and so I doubt have GPS installed. I don't believe the hand scanners are enabled for GPS.

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StarTrack is wholly owned by Australia Post.

The StarTrack drivers are sub contractors who supply and maintain their own vehicles.  If they want to have GPS in their vehicles they are quite free to do so.

Their hand scanners have GPS capability and are owned/issued by the company.  There are several other nasty little additions to the hand scanners that have seem the drivers take strike action and there are still ongoing negotiations with the Union.

The AP parcel contractors are just that....contractors who own their own vehicles.  Again...GPS is up to the individual driver but is not compulsory.   As far as I know they now have the same scanners as StarTrack so do have GPS capability.

[lyndal1838]

Jen, that is a most unfortunate experience and not very common....the security in the StarTrack depot here in Sydney would just not let it happen, and from what I have heard from AP contractors their security is just the same.

There are random drug and alcohol tests done very regularly....my OH says his middle name must be random because he always seems to be getting tested.   Every day random vehicles are searched before they leave the depot to see that all the parcels have been scanned onboard.  At night vehicles are searched before they leave for home to see that there is nothing onboard that should not be there.   Any discrepancies in these searches means instant dismissal....not even one warning.  All drivers had to sign a statement that they agreed to this before starting work.

[lyndal1838]

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@davidc4430 wrote:

you would hope that any delivery person found guilty of stealing things they are supposed to be delivering would not only lose their job but have something that would show up on any future background checks for employment.

and that when going through job training this was made clear so all staff know the ramifications of stealing from customers.

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All of the above is applicable to StarTrack....instant dismissal, no warnings, for stealing.  Because they are mainly self employed subcontractors there are no real employment checks so unless it was a police matter there would be no reason for anything to show up.

But the courier industry has a very good bush telegraph.  If someone is sacked the whole industry knows about it within days.

There is very little job training.....couriers work to a contract and are expected to know how to do the job, not get trained after they have the job.

[audio-spot]

It is great that random searches are done, and I know all Star Track vehicles are required to return to the depot at the end of the day.

If they are all driving their own vans, at least they have a financial comittment to do the right thing.

I don't believe AP contractors are required to return to their depot at the end of the day.

Ultimately there is few cases of delivery problems due to driver theft that I have heard of. The problem of course here was driver error.

The question is: what would be the best way to limit or eliminate similar errors in the future?

[lyndal1838]

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@audio-spot wrote:
It is great that random searches are done, and I know all Star Track vehicles are required to return to the depot at the end of the day.

If they are all driving their own vans, at least they have a financial comittment to do the right thing.

I don't believe AP contractors are required to return to their depot at the end of the day.

Ultimately there is few cases of delivery problems due to driver theft that I have heard of. The problem of course here was driver error.

The question is: what would be the best way to limit or eliminate similar errors in the future?

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As far as I am aware the AP contractors do have to return to their base at the end of the day to submit their paperwork and return their scanners, just as StarTrack contractors do.

There is always going to be some idiot who will try to beat the system...they don't last long.

And you are never going to completely eliminate driver error....drivers are human and tell me any job that is done by humans where all errors have been eliminated.

[clydesdale_giblets]

The bottom line to all of this  is - the delivery driver is incompetent, and delivered it to the wrong address.  Unfortunately this has been an ongoing problem with Auspost for decades, Choice magazine has done several surverys that find AP mail never arrives 100% guaranteed.  The buyer has a right to be angry.  There is no excuse for incompetence of that kind - it is just laziness and lack of care. 

[davewil1964]

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@clydesdale_giblets wrote:

The bottom line to all of this  is - the delivery driver is incompetent, and delivered it to the wrong address.  Unfortunately this has been an ongoing problem with Auspost for decades, Choice magazine has done several surverys that find AP mail never arrives 100% guaranteed.  The buyer has a right to be angry.  There is no excuse for incompetence of that kind - it is just laziness and lack of care. 

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The bottom line is the OP publicly accused the delivery driver of theft.

Without proof and without waiting for AP to investigate.

[lyndal1838]

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@clydesdale_giblets wrote:

The bottom line to all of this  is - the delivery driver is incompetent, and delivered it to the wrong address.  Unfortunately this has been an ongoing problem with Auspost for decades, Choice magazine has done several surverys that find AP mail never arrives 100% guaranteed.  The buyer has a right to be angry.  There is no excuse for incompetence of that kind - it is just laziness and lack of care. 

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Was it incompetence?   Maybe it could have just been a mistake?  There is a difference.

May I ask what you do to earn a crust?  Have you, or anyone in your line of business, ever made a mistake?   Would you be happy to be accused of incompetence just because you made a simple mistake?

[*tippy*toes*]

I noticed the OP did a quick exit..........