Australia Post is about to discontinue its No Safe Drop stickers

[tetrahedron800]

On Tuesday July 1st, Australia Post will be discontinuing its No Safe Drop stickers. This has been a rushed decision, and my local Australia Post only heard about it 2 days ago. Most people at the customer callcentre at 13 13 18 haven't heard about it. I managed to see an internal memo that was circulated to outlets.

This means that from July 1st, items with a No Safe Drop sticker or No Safe Drop written on them will be left outside the front door or in the mailbox. There are 3 ways to avoid this:

- Spend a extra $2.95 per item on a signed-for service (which in addition to being uneconomic will probably make life difficult for customers who are unable to wait at home.)

- Use the Parcel Collect system. (This requires every recipient to sign up to the Parcel Collect system by filling in a form. Australia Post are also unable to provide an overview of which parts of the country have this service and which do not, unless you run through every postcode one-by-one over the phone. So this option is out.)

- A parcel locker. (This is only available to PO box customers in major cities, so is also out in nearly every case.)

In essence, this move is a cash grab to get people sending more valuable items to shell out the $2.95. Please complain about this, and keep putting the stickers on.

Remember that you can complain about Australia Post to the Postal Industry Ombudsman on 1300 362 072 or online at https://forms.business.gov.au/aba/ombudsman/postal-industry-ombudsman-complaint-form-. They require you to have already put in a formal complaint to Australia Post on 13 76 78. If like me, Australia Post refuses to pursue your complaint while providing no justification, you can go straight to the Ombudsman.

[tetrahedron800]

On Tuesday July 1st, Australia Post will be discontinuing its No Safe Drop stickers. This has been a rushed decision, and my local Australia Post only heard about it 2 days ago. Most people at the customer callcentre at 13 13 18 haven't heard about it. I managed to see an internal memo that was circulated to outlets.

This means that from July 1st, items with a No Safe Drop sticker or No Safe Drop written on them will be left outside the front door or in the mailbox. There are 3 ways to avoid this:

- Spend a extra $2.95 per item on a signed-for service (which in addition to being uneconomic will probably make life difficult for customers who are unable to wait at home.)

- Use the Parcel Collect system. (This requires every recipient to sign up to the Parcel Collect system by filling in a form. Australia Post are also unable to provide an overview of which parts of the country have this service and which do not, unless you run through every postcode one-by-one over the phone. So this option is out.)

- A parcel locker. (This is only available to PO box customers in major cities, so is also out in nearly every case.)

In essence, this move is a cash grab to get people sending more valuable items to shell out the $2.95. Please complain about this, and keep putting the stickers on.

Remember that you can complain about Australia Post to the Postal Industry Ombudsman on 1300 362 072 or online at https://forms.business.gov.au/aba/ombudsman/postal-industry-ombudsman-complaint-form-. They require you to have already put in a formal complaint to Australia Post on 13 76 78. If like me, Australia Post refuses to pursue your complaint while providing no justification, you can go straight to the Ombudsman.

[tetrahedron800]

I can see just one avenue through which Australia Post can be persuaded to tighten up its performance.

Under the current Safe Drop criteria, if an item left outside a front door is visible from the street, it does not meet the Safe Drop requirements and must be carded. I think most of us will agree that this is being widely flouted. I would suggest that if your front door area is visible from anywhere on the street, you put in a complaint to Australia Post in relation to every single item left. Make a formal complaint on 13 76 78, and if they refuse to accept it, go straight to the Postal Industry Ombudsman on 1300 362 072 or online at https://forms.business.gov.au/aba/ombudsman/postal-industry-ombudsman-complaint-form-.

If enough people do this, it will hopefully encourage them to follow their own Safe Drop rules and reduce the risk of theft for all sellers, but there's always the possiblility that they could move the goalposts and allow items to be left in plain view.

[lyndal1838]

A lot of ebayers have Safe Drop Agreements in place anyway.  I have had one for at least 8 years and never have to go to the PO for anything. 

The bin is large, weatherproof and out of sight of the street.  The contractor and the postman both use it and I can also arrange for couriers to use it if I miss them and they need to redeliver.

[mitty_2010]

I tried the link you provided and it went to a gov page saying sorry try later .

The last few months whenever I have used those stickers I have been advised in an aggressive way by the postal worker behind the counter as to why I am using them and that from now on they will leave the parcel regardless of the sticker on the front door , I have noticed that they also try and  make a hard sell at the counter for everything , this has happened at  the 4  post offices which I use, a real turn off , for example they tried to charge me $7.20 for a flat letter ( and yes was correct weight stamped correctly and have sent hundreds in this fashion  ) . What can we sellers do about this ? 

[thecatspjs]

I am going to continue to use my supply until used up.   I will then create or buy my own supply of similar stickers and use those.

I also use a please scan on delivery sticker puchased online.

If the stickers don't make any difference to AP so be it, I will continue to use them as IMO my customers can see that I take care in doing what I can to get their parcel to them.

In any case for the mean time Australia Post website is still showing the information below - based on past performance it may be a couple of years before it is updated

If you are posting a parcel and you do not want it to be left safely, or 'safe dropped', if the recipient is not there, you can use signature on delivery or affix a 'Do Not Safe Drop' label to the parcel. Labels are available from Australia Post retail outlets.

Please note parcels with 'Do Not Safe Drop' labels will be delivered if they fit in the mailbox.

[davewil1964]

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@mitty_2010 wrote:

I tried the link you provided and it went to a gov page saying sorry try later .

The last few months whenever I have used those stickers I have been advised in an aggressive way by the postal worker behind the counter as to why I am using them and that from now on they will leave the parcel regardless of the sticker on the front door , I have noticed that they also try and  make a hard sell at the counter for everything , this has happened at  the 4  post offices which I use, a real turn off , for example they tried to charge me $7.20 for a flat letter ( and yes was correct weight stamped correctly and have sent hundreds in this fashion  ) . What can we sellers do about this ? 

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Stop shouting?

Your post could be seen as aggressive by most who just use the default fonts. 

So you need to determine whether or not your valid or not issue is worth taking it out on nobody who can influence your issue.

We are all eBay members here, and I for one do not need you in my face. Given that there is a miniscule chance that complaining about AP on eBay is definitely non-productive

[tetrahedron800]

Apologies for the link. The problem is the full stop at the end. On Firefox I right-click the link, do Copy Link Location, open a new tab, paste into the top URL bar, delete the full stop, then press enter.

If you're like me, in Firefox you will be asked to download the latest version of Adobe Reader (even if you already have it) before you can view the form, but will be able to copy and paste the link into Explorer and get it to work immediately.