International postage delayed due to COVID-19

[chameleon54]

Just a heads up that my local Australia Post advised yesterday that the COVID-19 virus is causing extensive delays to outbound and inbound international mail deliveries. I am messaging all OS buyers to inform them to expect delays. It wont stop the worry worts and freebie hunters from putting in claims, but it might help slow the " item not recieved " problem. 

[lupercal]

Incidentally my local PO today blamed the delays on lack of flights, which seems plausible, though I'm not sure why this would have been the case with things mailed two months ago.

[imastawka]

My Post Office lady this morning said "Wot?  Don't fink so....Hey Barry, any delays wif ovaseas mail?"

Barry - " Not dat I herd of"

Soooo, I dunno.

[eol-products]

Just received an email from AP stating you no longer need to sign for parcels.

"The COVID-19 (coronavirus) is having a significant impact on the lives of all Australians. I want to share with you everything Australia Post is doing so we can continue delivering parcels and letters, provide retail and payment services in our stores, whilst protecting the health and safety of our staff and customers in relation to the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus)."

"Further, to minimise the risk of contracting or spreading coronavirus, all parcels – be it at a post office or at a residence – will no longer require a signature for delivery or collection."

[south.coffee]

Australia Post also has to manage their internal workings as well.  This release posted today:

https://newsroom.auspost.com.au/article/australia-post-taking-action-to-protect-its-people-and-the-c...

[*tippy*toes*]

I posted a parcel to China on March 5. It arrived in China on March 12. It hasn't moved since. Unless tracking has stopped updating. The PO did say there would be delays on arrival. They said a week or 2. I told the buyer they said 6-8 weeks so it had plenty of time and they didn't go into panic mode too early.

[south.coffee]

Several of our Chinese suppliers sending in the opposite direction said there were simply no couriers turning up for work to pick up and deliver goods and similar situation for China Post.  One supplier in Wuhan has a sign on his website telling customers he can only ship within Wuhan and is not taking orders from outside the province.

That's pretty tough for any business and I felt sorry for the guy.

[lyndal1838]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

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@madebya2 wrote:

Thanks very much! I've been wondering when this will start to happen 😞 what are you thoughts about domestic mail? I'm really worried when we start to see delays in Aus post locally. Do you think it is possible that mail might shut down at some point for a period of time? I'm super concerned about that.

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I havnt had that discussion with the PO, but my personal opinion is that post is an essential service and agencies will be doing their best to keep it running reliably even in the unlikely event that Australia goes into fairly stringent lock down. In European countries that are in advanced lock down, food shops, chemists and essential industries are still operating, although staffing is an issue.

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Australia Post is taking precautions. 

StarTrack drivers as of yesterday are not allowed to collect signatures for their deliveries.  Their scanners have been set to Authority to Leave and the drivers have been told to leave the parcels at the door and leave.

Commercial premises with mail rooms have the mail left on the counter or just inside the door.....or anywhere nominated by that mailroom.  Nobody is allowed to touch the scanners but the driver who had it issued to him.

Other courier companies are organising similar options although this is only word of mouth so far from talking to other drivers.

I imagine other sectios of AP have similar instructions but I have not yet spoken to my contractor or postman to confirm.

[brerrabbit585]

AP has the same rules, according to their news section, except that the drivers can also sign instead of the recipient (but the recipient has to be there when they do it).

[lyndal1838]

Thanks Brer....I did see the AP notification after I had posted.

If the recipient has to be there when the AP staff sign on their behalf it means that they are not using the ATL option which avoids any face to face contact.  StarTrack instructions are to avoid all contact and nobody but the driver can touch the scanner.

[11dustyattic]

Muzz Buzz wouldn't even take my card to stamp. I held it and they stamped it, without human contact. All food workers are wearing gloves but what concerns me about that is they don't always change gloves between handling money, then our food with the same gloves on. They don't have enough staff to leave one at the register