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.
