Australia Post is about to discontinue No Safe Drop stickers

[tetrahedron800]

On Tuesday July 1st, Australia Post will be discontinuing its No Safe Drop stickers. This has been a rushed decision, and my local Australia Post only heard about it 2 days ago. Most people at the customer callcentre at 13 13 18 haven't heard about it. I managed to see an internal memo that was circulated to outlets.

This meansthat from July 1st, items with a No Safe Drop sticker or No Safe Drop written on them will be left outside the front door or in the mailbox. There are 3 ways to avoid this:

- Spend a extra $2.95 per item on a signed-for service (which in addition to being uneconomic will probably make life difficult for customers who are unable to wait at home.)

- Use the Parcel Collect system. (This requires every recipient to sign up to the Parcel Collect system by filling in a form. Australia Post are also unable to provide an overview of which parts of the country have this service and which do not, unless you run through every postcode one-by-one over the phone. So this option is out.)

- A parcel locker. (This is only available to PO box customers in major cities, so is also out in nearly every case.)

In essence, this move is a cash grab to get people sending more valuable items to shell out the $2.95. Please complain about this, and keep putting the stickers on.

Remember that you can complain about Australia Post to the Postal Industry Ombudsman on 1300 362 072 or online at https://forms.business.gov.au/aba/ombudsman/postal-industry-ombudsman-complaint-form-. They require you to have already put in a formal complaint to Australia Post on 13 76 78. If like me, Australia Post refuses to pursue your complaint while providing no justification, you can go straight to the Ombudsman.

[harley_babes_hoard]

It has been discontinued because lack of use I was told. There was a very small majority who used the service. Me I stopped using it after one of the parcel I had a sticker on was left in full view of the street for someone to steal. My buyer wasn't happy.

[tetrahedron800]

If what you were told is true - which I doubt - it could be argued that the small number of users represents only a small inconvenience for Australia Post, given that only a few cards would have to be written out. When it comes to believing what Australia Post says, I have been told the following within the last 3 days, in the following chronological order:

- No Safe Drop stickers are being discontinued, and these are the 3 alternatives.

- There are no plans to abandon No Safe Drop stickers, so you don't have to worry. If there was, we would have been told.

- No Safe Drop stickers are being discontinued, and the solution is simply to keep writing No Safe Drop on the item.

- No Safe Drop stickers are being discontinued, and if you write No Safe Drop on the item, it will make no difference. We don't know why the people at the callcentre gave you the wrong information by saying that they aren't being discontinued.

- I haven't heard anything about No Safe Drop stickers being discontinued, and can't tell you any more because the system is down at the moment.

[Anonymous]

I have seen the memo

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My PO Manager showed it to me because I did not believe him when he told me

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The memo said all stickers were to be destroyed

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Then it stated on the memo that the postage should be upgraded to SOD as an alternative

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I was told to keep using my supply until I use them all up

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It now seems that the stickers will be ignored by the delivery people

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So the parcel will be left on the doorstep or wherever, and if it then gets stolen

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The reply from the PO will be ... tracking number shows that it has been delivered ... so NO compensation will be applicable !

[tetrahedron800]

If items are going missing because of the discontinuation of No Safe Drop, one option would be insure everything and to ask customers to pay the extra $1.50 (assuming that it's below $100 value.)

On the plus side, you avoid paying $2.95 per item and fussing around with signatures, but on the downside every additional cost to the customer makes it harder to compete.

However, if Australia Post think that their parcel tracking equates to proof of delivery, then this is a waste of time. For letters, where there is still no tracking, this situation would not apply. I'll ask my local PO and see what they say.

[tetrahedron800]

If items are going missing because of the discontinuation of No Safe Drop, one option would be insure everything and to ask customers to pay the extra $1.50 (assuming that it's below $100 value.)

On the plus side, you avoid paying $2.95 per item and fussing around with signatures, but on the downside every additional cost to the customer makes it harder to compete.

However, if Australia Post think that their parcel tracking equates to proof of delivery, then this is a waste of time. For letters, where there is still no tracking, this situation would not apply. I'll ask my local PO and see what they say.

[tetrahedron800]

For items under $100 value, I've clarified that the cost of insuring is $1.50 (parcels) and $3.50 (letters.) It's looking as though I'll have to wait a week to have a rave about getting reimbursed for tracked parcel items.

[tetrahedron800]

OK, I think I have the likely answer. A poster on another eBay forum pointed out that if you read the memo carefully, there is no mention of ignoring the DNSD stickers. I read it today and confirmed this. It just says that they will be discontinued and encourages Australia Post outlets to promote the alternatives. If I'm correct, once you run out of DNSD stickers the message can be written on items, or to be more professional print your own.

I made the mistake of taking the verbal advice I was given literally and not being more sceptical.

[tetrahedron800]

My local post office is no longer accepting items with attached DNSD stickers over the counter, which means that for parcels and satchels I have to go elsewhere to get tracking. The main post office down the road has no problem with them.

[tetrahedron800]

Over the past week, I've been in touch with a senior complaint resolution staff member at Australia Post to ask whether the DNSD instruction will still be followed if a sticker is attached. The answer that came back is effectively 'NO.'

[tetrahedron800]

I can see just one avenue through which Australia Post can be persuaded to tighten up its performance.

Under the current Safe Drop criteria, if an item left outside a front door is visible from the street, it does not meet the Safe Drop requirements and must be carded. I think most of us will agree that this is being widely flouted. I would suggest that if your front door area is visible from anywhere on the street, you put in a complaint to Australia Post in relation to every single item left. Make a formal complaint on 13 76 78, and if they refuse to accept it, go straight to the Postal Industry Ombudsman on 1300 362 072 or online at https://forms.business.gov.au/aba/ombudsman/postal-industry-ombudsman-complaint-form-.

If enough people do this, it will hopefully encourage them to follow their own Safe Drop rules and reduce the risk of theft for all sellers, but there's always the possiblility that they could move the goalposts and allow items to be left in plain view.