WARNING to Australia Post Customers

[moviemem]

Although all packages that are sent within Australia are supposed to include tracking, the reality is that many of the Post Offices where packages are lodged do not scan the packages.

I sent an item out on Tuesday and paid the extra for Signature on Delivery. When I checked the tracking today, it shows "no events found". I phoned the Business helpline and they said that Post Offices do not have to scan packages at lodgement. They said that the only requirement for tracking is to scan the packages on delivery.

But what happens in transit? I gave the customer the tracking number and he is now worried because of the "no events found" entry.

The rep on the Business Help Line said that if you specifically want tracking from lodgement, you must ask the staff to scan the package despite the fact that they are not actually required to do that. That sounds to me like telling them how to do their job.

To me, tracking should mean that you are able to track the package from the point of lodgement to delivery.

Unfortunately, I cannot use Click and Send or eParcel because of the size of the packages I send.

Bottom line is that you should not assume that the parcel you send is being tracked. You need to physically check that the staff actually scan the package.

[davewil1964]

I can tell you one more ridiculous thing about tracking. When you lodge a parcel that is under 500g you won't get a postcode for it on your receipt. It's a not a problem when you lodge only one parcel. Now imagine  that you do 10-20-50 at the same time and you can start wondering which tracking # belongs to which postcode, especially when your customer asks for it.

There is one workaround that I have learnt in my LPO from great guys who work there. YOU CAN get a postcode on your receipt for parcels under 500g. It makes tracking information more valuable and you can give tracking # to your customers in this case. However you have to ask your local LPO guys to include postcodes for all parcels no matter whether they are less than 500g or over. I do not think many of them know how to do it. If they do not just ask them to press F5.

When I lodge a parcel under 500g it is in a C&S satchel and I get confirmation of the actual address upon lodgement. Standard parcels only get tracking to the distribution centre, which is likely to not be the same postcode as the buyer.

Good luck with your further attempts to cut corners - especially when C&S is likely to be cheaper.

[ozstockman]

When I lodge a parcel under 500g it is in a C&S satchel and I get confirmation of the actual address upon lodgement. Standard parcels only get tracking to the distribution centre, which is likely to not be the same postcode as the buyer.

Good luck with your further attempts to cut corners - especially when C&S is likely to be cheaper.

What is all this criticism about? I was just trying to help others.

I was not talking about C&S and it was not related to satchels at all , It was about regular posting in customer packaging  in LPOs.

C&S may be cheaper for you but  I personally cannot use most of their services. All of my products are custom made and come in different size and weight. Most of them are so big that do not fit even in the biggest box C&S offers. And the other reason I do not like C&S service is I cannot use my label Dymo printer with C&S which prints addresses in seconds and with C&S I actually have to do some extra work to create a shipment with them.