reliable alternatives to australia post in australia

[grannytakesatrip17]

I am fed up with the extravagent prices of Australia Post. I am a private seller who normally has a good clear out in Nov/Dec.

Can anyone recommend an alternative, less expensive but trustworthy courier service. I do not send overseas.

Thank you.

[sarahs_preloved_booksnbits]

Can I make a suggestion - during the year Ebay offer various 10% or 20% off promotions.  When these promotion occur, it might be an idea to buy a quantity of prepaid Australia Post satchels.  This won't be much use this year but could help going forward. 

[thesoulyearns]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Fastways seems to be the courier that is "pushed" by ebay....and my personal opinion of them is pretty well known and is shared by many in the courier industry.

The best way to access them is through courier brokers such as Sendle and Temando.   You can get some excellent deals through these brokers, but you really do need to be aware of the Australia Post prices for similar services.   Once again  there is no courier company that can compare with Australia Post in coverage.

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x2 as far as recommending Sendle. Their rates are very competitive and their customer service is fantastic. They also deliver as quick as AusPost Express does... just as their normal speed. At least in my experieince.

Plus, Signature on Delivery is free. I recommend anyone looking for an alternative to check them out.

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

Unfortunately, there's no "one size fits all" replacement.

My place of employ uses several domestic courier services - mainly Couriers Please, MTX, Ipec, Toll Priority, and StarTrack, but also a few customer-specified ones like Hunter Express, and TNT.

And we have problems with them all - drivers not turning up at the appointed pick-up time (or at all), items missing, items damaged, items taking longer than promised ("overnight" regularly turns into 2-3 days), five boxes loaded on the truck here magically turns into four boxes at the destination, two seperate boxes going to the same destination and put on the truck at the same time arriving five days apart, 30 items in the box here becomes 28 in the box there, and so on.

Some won't deliver to residential addresses. None will deliver to P.O boxes or Parcel Lockers (although I believe Toll may be working on that). Some require a minimum number of consignments before they'll pick up. Each has its own unique set of quirks.

For all its various faults, including cost, Australia Post is still the best overall carrier. Of the items I've sent out via AusPost this year (between 750 and 900), only five have gone missing (and two of those showed up in tracking as having been delivered to the specified address). 

Yeah, cost can be a pain - but some of the courier services charge like wounded bulls: $15 dollars for a single item, where AusPost's cost on the same item would be about $8....

[lyndal1838]

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@thesoulyearns wrote:

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Plus, Signature on Delivery is free.

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Every courier company that I know of requires a signature on delivery.....the cost is already included in their basic price.

These days a number of companies are giving customers a Safe Drop option because so many people are not at home during the day.

I regularly buy from a Queensland company who uses courier delivery and when I place the order there is a little box for me to enter the place for them to leave the item.   If I don't fill it in they knock on the door for my signature.

[lyndal1838]

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@performance_parts_clearance_centre wrote:

Unfortunately, there's no "one size fits all" replacement.

My place of employ uses several domestic courier services - mainly Couriers Please, MTX, Ipec, Toll Priority, and StarTrack, but also a few customer-specified ones like Hunter Express, and TNT.

Some won't deliver to residential addresses. None will deliver to P.O boxes or Parcel Lockers (although I believe Toll may be working on that). Some require a minimum number of consignments before they'll pick up. Each has its own unique set of quirks.

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You are certainly using a variety of foreign owned couriers.....Couriers Please is owned by Singapore Post,  Toll is Japan Post, and DHL is Deutsche Post.

StarTrack is owned by Australia Post and they do deliver to PO Boxes and Parcel Lockers.  When delivering to a PO Box or leaving a non-deliverable parcel at the PO the courier gets a signature from the staff but if it is left at a Parcel Locker it is treated as a safe drop item and there is no signature, just a photo of the item in front of the box.

Other couriers can deliver to Post Offices if they are prepared to pay the outrageous surcharge demanded by Australia Post....last I heard it was $15 or $16 and no self respecting courier would ever pay it....they could certainly not recoup it from their customers.

[grannytakesatrip17]

I have just had a look at their reviews, seem excellent. I might give them a try, thank you.

[lyndal1838]

If you mean Sendle you need to be aware of the fact that they are a courier broker and use different couriers.

Many buyers do not like courier deliveries if they work all day.

And finally, I am not sure if they deliver to Western Australia yet....they initially only serviced the Eastern States but were planning to expand.

[grannytakesatrip17]

Mmmm gd points, thank you.

[panoramic7]

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lyndal1838 wrote:

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performance_parts_clearance_centre wrote:

Unfortunately, there's no "one size fits all" replacement.

My place of employ uses several domestic courier services - mainly Couriers Please, MTX, Ipec, Toll Priority, and StarTrack, but also a few customer-specified ones like Hunter Express, and TNT.

Some won't deliver to residential addresses. None will deliver to P.O boxes or Parcel Lockers (although I believe Toll may be working on that). Some require a minimum number of consignments before they'll pick up. Each has its own unique set of quirks.

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You are certainly using a variety of foreign owned couriers.....Couriers Please is owned by Singapore Post,  Toll is Japan Post, and DHL is Deutsche Post.

StarTrack is owned by Australia Post and they do deliver to PO Boxes and Parcel Lockers.  When delivering to a PO Box or leaving a non-deliverable parcel at the PO the courier gets a signature from the staff but if it is left at a Parcel Locker it is treated as a safe drop item and there is no signature, just a photo of the item in front of the box.

Other couriers can deliver to Post Offices if they are prepared to pay the outrageous surcharge demanded by Australia Post....last I heard it was $15 or $16 and no self respecting courier would ever pay it....they could certainly not recoup it from their customers.

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We use Startrack for our larger parcels, and never realised the could deliver to a Po Box. So can Startrack deliver an item to a po box that would be over Aust Post regular size restrictions eg over 105cm long?

[davewil1964]

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@sarahs_preloved_booksnbits wrote:

Can I make a suggestion - during the year Ebay offer various 10% or 20% off promotions.  When these promotion occur, it might be an idea to buy a quantity of prepaid Australia Post satchels.  This won't be much use this year but could help going forward. 

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Yep. Do that regularly. it tickles me that eBay pay towards my non-eBay sales.