Change in AusPost red box collection times

[porcelain_dolls_by_me]

Hearing that as from mid November AusPost will change from an evening clearance (in our case 6pm) of the street red boxes to a midday clearance.  The box will no longer be cleared by a dedicated AusPost van, rather by your local postie.

At the moment, any orders we receive before 5:30pm are placed into the mail box that day thereby ensuring (well, assisting) prompt delivery.

In essence this change means that most of our sales will be mailed/delivered one day later than at present.

AusPost again claim that diminishing volumes of snail mail mean they need to cut costs by reducing services.  Seems like an echo of the story spun by banks as their excuse for closing branches - an endless cycle.  Reduce services so less people can use the service and then claim this reduced patronage as an excuses to further reduce services.

[kitty-kat-kollection]

The various boxes I use are all 5pm, though the other day I noticed one a little further away from a main shopping area said 12pm.

12pm!!!!

[south.coffee]

Australia Post has deadlines right across it's network.  It is a very well oiled logistics business.  In regional and rural areas it's a 'milk run' starting at 10am from the furthest delivery point to the mail centre.  Mail bags must be ready at a certain time for each Post Office all along the line and staff must have bags sorted and tagged at a certain time every day, drivers have strict pick up windows depending on the location.

Red post boxes outside of cities are just satellites, with a local contractor clearing those boxes after the closing box time for delivery to the post office for sorting with the rest of the mail.

For cities, it's a similar scenario except red boxes are cleared and delivered directly to the Mail Centre by Australia Post staff and vehicles who also pick up the Post Office bags.  City deadlines are not as strict as rural runs, due to the shorter distance and the huge redundancy with bigger fleets.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@11dustyattic wrote:

It would be unusual if they returned at 6 to collect parcels. My local PO has last parcel collection at 4.30 or that's when the truck gets there and they don't hang around for long

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I can tell you that's exactly what they do here. I know, because I have been there at 4pm and the truck is there. I have also arrived 3 minutes before closing time, and the truck is there. Plus, the post master's wife told me several years ago about the second pick up. I have posted at 5.50pm (they shut at 5.55pm), and by morning there is a tracking scan from the city sorting centre.

I have also got there right on closing to post a letter, as the driver is getting the bags from the red box. He opened it to take my letter.

[lyndal1838]

I am in suburban Sydney and there has always been one vehicle to clear the street posting boxes, including the ones outside the PO door.

A separate vehicle comes a little later to collect the mail from inside the PO.  If we miss the post box clearance the staff will take the mail over the counter.

[love_of_cars]

My local boxes are now 12 pm but I have found that almost always the box seems empty (BONK!) so I try and aim for 10 to 11 am. Or maybe people just aren't using it, who knows.

[lyndal1838]

I have no idea what the collection time is at the local PO now.....have not posted there since December 2018.  My OH posts things for me in the Sydney CBD where the boxes are cleared 4-5 times a day.

The only letter posted locally as when my OH was on holidays....and it was not time sensitive anyway.

[bh_oz-avian]

 Well I suppose somebody has to pay for those Bloody "Gold Watches" who better than the Australia public.

🤣Brian

[davewil1964]

The watches are nothing compared to the bonuses they get. Pays to get facts right, and not bump old threads to add nothing.

[1014leonie]

A red box not too far away from me now indicates must post by 12pm.  It used to be 6pm, then went to 4pm.

[*sons_and_daughters*]

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@1014leonie wrote:

A red box not too far away from me now indicates must post by 12pm.  It used to be 6pm, then went to 4pm.

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I live in rural NSW. The roadside red boxes used to be 4pm, then they changed to 3pm, now they are 2pm. The boxes outside the PO are still 4pm. I don't use the roadside boxes because anything I post has tracking, so I take it inside to get a lodgement scan.

I used to bust my gut to get there by 4pm, until they told me that while there was a pick up of box and parcels at 4pm, they had another pick up at 6.10pm. So much pressure lifted! They just don't make it common knowledge to the average person.