First tracking event after lodgement at PO

[cq_electrical]

When an item has been lodged OTC at the PO and a tracking number issued, does anybody know what the next tracking event would be? Is the item scanned by the driver who picks it up to take it to the DC or is it not scanned again until it actually arrives at the DC for sorting?

Reason I ask is that a friend has received notice from their client in Melbourne that an item which was lodged (and scanned) at the local PO on August 8 has still not arrived, and according to AP, there was no further scanning event logged after the item was initially lodged over the counter at the receiving PO.

We are therefore trying to determine if the item went missing at the PO itself, or somewhere between the PO and the DC (depending upon whether or not the delivery driver is meant to scan the item when it is picked up from the PO for delivery to the DC).

We've queried AP over this but they have mysteriously gone very quiet about the subject.

[lyndal1838]

Usually everything in the PO is in large bags and just put in the PO van.  It would not be scanned until the bags were emptied at the sorting centre.

By rights they should be scanned into the sorting centre and then out when they are on their way to the next stop.

In reality they are often not scanned after the initial scan when they are lodged at the PO until the driver picks them up at the Delivery Centre in the area where they are to be delivered.

In other words, they are scanned at the beginning of their journey and again at the end when they are being delivered.  Any other scanning is a bonus and you cannot rely on it being done.

[cq_electrical]

Thanks Lyndal, so it was pretty much as I assumed then. I was fairly sure that the items should be scanned into the DC prior to sorting, and then out again once their destination has been determined, but this is clearly not happening so it's entirely possible that the item could have gone missing as late in the delivery process as when the final delivery driver scans it as being on board for delivery from the destination DC.

That's clearly not good enough then, if that's the case, as there is basically no possible way to determine where the parcel has gone astray. It could be anywhere between the PO of lodgement to the DC at the destination end. Makes you wonder what the point of scanning is if they're not going to use it properly.

I wonder if the same lax attitude applies to items lodged as registered, or with SOD and/or extra cover, or even Express Post then? What it basically boils down to then, is that tracking is for all intents and purposes, completely useless. 😞

[lyndal1838]

You've got it in one CQ.  Tracking is as useful as a fifth wheel.

It either is not done or if it is done then there is a good chance that the tracking shows that the buyer has received it and they have not...there is a bit of that being reported on the boards and I had 2 cases of that happening last year.

[pennyforum14]

It's even less reliable if you follow the suggestions on the click and send site and drop the item in a red box.  These items are not scanned at all until they reach the PO at the destination end.  The tracking window continues to show that the information has been entered into the  Auspost system, but there is absolutely no indication of lodgement or receipt by Auspost and it leads customers to doubt if the item has even been sent, especially of it's going form one side of the country to the other where delivery can take over a week.  I learned very quickly NEVER to post parcels in a red box, even if it means a day's delay because I missed the PO.

[clarry100]

Yes we too alwaysw lodge ours over the counter for this very reason.

[peri-landlubber]

I start to think it's laziness.  From here sometimes I track to Sunshine (usually for WA & SA, very rarely to a state north of me or last week it was Morwell (forgotten where that was going).

Usually if the parcel is going to NSW, it doesn't appear to get sorted till it reaches its destination - actually I have one still in transit - posted some six months ago.  Presume the buyer received it as have had no contact & no feedback received either.

Posted a parcel for my friend yesterday going to Eastern Vic, shows in transit, but I saw it logged in & got a receipt but no lodgement advice online as it usually shows.

Registered mail - no receipt for lodgement, never any tracking until it reaches its destination.

[cherry*135]

NSW to QLD - doesn't show which sorting facility it went through

Fri 25 Jul 2014 13:12  Delivered  NEWTOWN QLD

Fri 25 Jul 2014 06:43  With Australia Post for delivery today HEATHWOOD QLD

Wed 23 Jul 2014 15:28 Received by Australia Post K NSW

NSW - TAS  - This is one I dropped in the red posting box outside my local PO, so it doesn't show my town as first step

Fri 08 Aug 2014 10:35  Delivered WEST ULVERSTONE TAS

Fri 08 Aug 2014 08:22  With Australia Post for delivery today  ULVERSTONE TAS

Fri 08 Aug 2014 05:51 Processed through Australia Post facility ULVERSTONE TAS

Thu 07 Aug 2014 15:27 Processed through Australia Post facilityYOUNGTOWN TAS

Tue 05 Aug 2014 00:10 Processed through Australia Post facilityCHULLORA NSW

NSW to VIC

Wed 23 Jul 2014 11:10 Delivered BELMONT VIC

Wed 23 Jul 2014 07:11 With Australia Post for delivery today GROVEDALE VIC

Wed 23 Jul 2014 03:55 Processed through Australia Post facility GROVEDALE VIC

Mon 21 Jul 2014 13:0 1 Received by Australia Post SHELLHARBOUR CITY CENTRE NSW

NSW to NSW

Tue 22 Jul 2014 10:21  Delivered  ALEXANDRIA NSW

Tue 22 Jul 2014 06:42 With Australia Post for delivery today ALEXANDRIA NSW

Mon 21 Jul 2014 13:01Received by Australia Post SHELLHARBOUR CITY CENTRE NSW

[cq_tech]

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@am*3 wrote:

NSW to QLD - doesn't show which sorting facility it went through

Fri 25 Jul 2014 13:12  Delivered  NEWTOWN QLD

Fri 25 Jul 2014 06:43  With Australia Post for delivery today HEATHWOOD QLD

Wed 23 Jul 2014 15:28 Received by Australia Post K NSW

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This is a particularly interesting series of tracking events. Heathwood is my local DC up here in Brisbane yet apart from when the item was lodged OTC at your PO at K in NSW, there are no further events recorded until it was ready to leave Heathwood for delivery to Newtown, yet it should have been scanned into your local DC down in NSW, then out again to Heathwood, then scanned into Heathwood DC when it arrived up here. At least it was scanned as being on-board with the driver for delivery at Newtown, Qld., so that was the one and only scanning event which proves that the item made it this far.

Therefore, at least 5 tracking events have been ignored completely, 2 in NSW and 3 in Qld, so had it not been scanned out of Heathwood the item could have gone missing from anywhere between the PO of lodgement and Newtown in Qld and nobody would have been any the wiser. Given the prices we're being charged for parcel delivery these days, it's nowhere near good enough.

[thecatspjs]

Being a long time critic of AP, I have to say that I am pretty impressed in the significant improvement in tracking events for parcels over the past year or so. 

As a buyer and a seller, I really don't care about what mailing sorting centre my parcel goes through, if they are scanned at lodgement and at delivery thats fine by me.  The onboard for delivery scan is a bonus.

I imagine that if all parcels were scanned every single step of the way that this would have the detrimental impact of slowing delivery time down, and ultimately the additional handling surely must add to the cost of post.

AP do not commit to scanning every event in their terms and conditions.  If they did, then thats a different story, but they never have.

I still get the occassional parcel that misses a delivery scan, but this is becoming less and less frequent.