No wonder Australia Post is losing money

[letscleanupmycupboards]

Not really complaining as its a bonus for us, but.......it's no surprise Australia Post is increasing prices and complaining about losses.

The last 2 or 3 weeks worth of mail (and I'm talking letters and parcels) have all arrived with no postmarks/cancellation on the stamps. (yes some ebay sellers still go old school and stick stamps on an envelope to send items). Has been letters too. I'd guess we have at least $40 worth of reusable stamps here from the last couple of weeks. It is the ultimate free postage.

Wondering if this is an isolated incident or some lapse in procedure at the DC? Work experience kid maybe?

[putney32]

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@curraone wrote:

I think it's dishonest.     I don't want Aust Post to go down the tube just because I'm too mean to buy stamps.  

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not only dishonest but against Aust Federal law, and yes, over the years many people have been prosecuted for reusing stamps that have been thru the mail once, but not cancelled.

one person, a few years ago, ran a 'business' selling washed stamps on eBay to reuse as postage and was sent to jail.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I'm not game to reuse stamps, even if they appear not to be cancelled. I worry that maybe they have been cancelled but the ink is really faded and I'm just not seeing it. It would be my luck I'd be caught. I hate having a conscience sometimes LOL!!

[davidc4430]

might be the fact a lot of post offices are privatised and just going by my local post office they are not real enthusiastic, and understaffed too.

[wilk1149]

Australia post is not losing money. They separated the parcel division from.the letter division. Therefore their own stupid fault but somehow they will make money in the long run otherwise they wouldn't have done it

[harley_babes_hoard]

only a criminal Kopes

[letscleanupmycupboards]

That I agree is a bit extreme and would be frowned upon. I feel theres a bit of a difference between washing them off and selling them and innocently reusing a couple of stamps. Cleaning and reselling is quite clearly a deliberate and malicious act.

Given the number of people who post stuff with no postage on it (and get away with it without penalty or requests to pay underpaid postage) and the number of uncancelled stamps out there, I'd say they have dropped the ball a little lately.

[peri-landlubber]

I don't get any uncancelled stamps as my local PO cancels them with their own stamp & this has been going on since 1986 thru 5 different owners.

I was very disappointed when one of the owners cancelled a stamp that had a cancellation that came from Richmond in Tasie, the sending PO had stamped over 1 stamp & not the other.  I really wanted that cancelled envelope for my collection, but it was spoiled with my local PO's thoughtless cancellation over both stamps.   What's more the bloke that sent the letter died not long afterward.

[dylan11235813]

it's also against Aus Post policy to cover over a stamp with tape

[zanadoo_56]

I make birthday and Christmas cards, often including making the envelopes.  I decorate the envelopes as well but not as much as I used to.

A post office I used to go to regularly had some pretty surly staff and whenever I had to post one of my decorated cards, one of the staffers would always put the stamp on the envelope instead of giving it to me to do.  This enabled her to ruin my decorative efforts by putting the stamp on crooked...then with as much ink as possible and with as much pressure as possible she'd then frank it.....barely touching the stamp but putting black sometimes blurry ink all around it.  If a finger smudge could be managed as well so much the better.  Grrrrr.

She was a class act.  One day she refused to take a parcel for delivery until I had filled out a customs form.

The parcel was being posted from Melbourne to Canberra!

[i-love-my-sheep]

I usually always have plenty of stamps on hand because most of my items get sent large letter. One time, I ran out, so took it down to the PO, who stuck the stamps on it.....crooked! I take great pride in putting my stamps on straight. Yes, it was only a plain white padded bag, but it looked so sloppy. Chances are the buyer wouldn't have looked twice at it, but it still bothered me. It only takes a fleeting second to stick them on straight!

No, I'm not OCD, but I am particular about some things. One is making sure the stamps are on straight and the other is making sure the tape on the boxes I post is cut in the corners and stuck down neatly, not just squashed down.