Australia Post wonderless ripoffs

[natures_organics]

 I fail to beleive Australia post won't take their packaging into account this is the most blantant money grabbing scam i've ever seen..So why say 1kg cost x amount when the quite wll know when the item is package and a few grams over they slug you the next rate up which is 3 kg RIDICULOUS and Auspost reply is....You will be charged for 1 kg if it doesn't include packaging ..Ummm how many item do't include packaging ???   Tossers.... .. again Ridiculous....Mybe it's to build up Aus post CEO for his 200 million dollrar bonus this year !

[imastawka]

Look in the supermarket.  Big companies do it all the time.

You get a smaller packet of something and they raise the price.

Make them 950gr maybe?  And state that in the listing also

Tell them it's keeping costs down.  haahahaha

[digital*ghost]

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@millys_beauty_and_fashion wrote:

weather it be 10 g or 3 g they charge up the next level they just give no leeway for 3 measly grams over I think thats sad on their part

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There's valid arguments for and against such things, I mean if 50% of your customers messaged you after buying 1kg of something and asked for an extra 10 grams for free, because it's only 10 grams extra after they've paid for 1kg, and you gave it to them, it'd cost you money either way - money that you're not recouping, (unless it's already built into your pricing, I suppose). You can say "Aus Post are getting enough for the parcels to let 5 grams ride", but your customers could say the same thing and expect the extra for free, and I'm sure that even if you didn't at first, you'd draw a line somewhere, and eventually that line would be very strict). 

If they started taking their packaging into account when assessing the weight of an article, what would be the potential backlash? I can guarantee you those who use their own packaging would start crying foul and insisting they are charged based on the content weight, rather than the gross parcel weight, which would then result in everyone having to package their items at the post office, cos otherwise how would anyone know how much of a 10kg parcel is the items inside, and how much is the packaging? And on that note, would bubble wrap, foam padding, peanuts, wadded newspaper etc, count as packaging or contents? 

I don't know how true it is, but considering the terms I am on with the staff at my local PO, which is very good, I tend to believe them when they say that when they are weighing a parcel on the scales, the system literally won't let them charge at a lower bracket even if a parcel is 1 gram over. (These guys do what they can when they can for me, eg when I send overseas and I have a letter thats just over the 50g weight bracket, they'll usually process it as a 50g letter, saving me (and my buyers) quite a bit of money in the process, but they can process letters without putting the article on the scales, they can't do that for assessed parcels). 

[lm-entertainment]

i totally agree with lyndal. 

i don't get what's so hard about this concept. it's always been the way it has been. i think you'll find it's the way it's been across postage networks worldwide. 

also, there's items which are measured by cubic weight - you could also argue that that is a ripoff, but it's to do with the size that items take up in whatever it is being delivered in (ie plane, van, car etc). 

package your item and seal it for posting - and what it weighs is what you're charged for. seems pretty straightforward to me.

you're the one that is responsible for charging your buyers the correct postage amoount - or alternatively, covering the cost of your postage in your item's price. 

you can't expect to post an item weighing 50gm - chuck in 400g of packaging and expect to be charged for posting a 50gm item. 

[phorum_junkie*]

If you don't like AP's charges try Offceworks, they sometimes work out cheaper but like every other business I bet they charge if the package is 10g oover a set weight.

If you buy something from a self fill barrel in a shop and you have gone over by a few grams do you expect to get away with only paying for what you intended to buy?

I have on many occassion unpacked a parcel to remove a piece of tissue paper or my bsiness card and that has been enough to get it back to the lower rate.

[clarry100]

... and if you pull into a servo to put petrol in your car and you want 50-litres but you go just over to 50.1 litres because you were not quick enough on the trigger, do you go inside when you pay and demand to only pay for the 50? What do you think the attendant would say/do?

A limit is just that. IMHO if you are going to be "just" over it you need to reduce something to make it come in under. 10-grams is only about the weight of a B5 paper envelope. Not much to trim out.

We have a good set of digital kitchen scales that we know weighs items at about 3-grams over my local PO scales so if I weigh a packed satchel at home at 502 grams I'm very confident when they weigh it over the counter it will be actually 499.

[springyzone]

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@millys_beauty_and_fashion wrote:

 I fail to beleive Australia post won't take their packaging into account this is the most blantant money grabbing scam i've ever seen..So why say 1kg cost x amount when the quite wll know when the item is package and a few grams over they slug you the next rate up which is 3 kg RIDICULOUS and Auspost reply is....You will be charged for 1 kg if it doesn't include packaging ..Ummm how many item do't include packaging ???   Tossers.... .. again Ridiculous....Mybe it's to build up Aus post CEO for his 200 million dollrar bonus this year !

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I think the problem here is it sounds as if you either get charged the 1kg rate or else it jumps up to the 3kg rate, there are no in between categories.

It is a shame but the thing is, we all have to work within the Aust Post system as it is. Not how it should be or how we would like it to be.

It is fair enough that items have to be weighed as wrapped, and a parcel should be charged on its actual weight but I understand the frustration that the rate jumps so much.

To me, the logical solution is to see if you can repackage your products in future to work in with the postage rates. It may mean having new labels printed and so on. It sounds as if you sell bath salts or things of that nature? Would it hurt to sell them in eg 800g lots or whatever it takes to bring the weight to under 1kg when packed?

A new customer would not even realise the size used to be bigger. I suppose you could lower the price fractionally if you wanted to, but you probably would not need to.

[lyndal1838]

If you weigh out the powders or crystals yourself and then package them do you take the weight of the containers into account.

A kilo of powder is going to weigh more than a kilo once it is packed.  If you then put that into an AP satchel it will be even further over the weight of the powder before it was put in any container.