I've been using Fastway for a couple of years, to send to places where they deliver (capital cities and some regional areas, no PO boxes.) It was largely a response to Australia Post's price increases. For national 3kg satchels they charge $10.00, 1kg satchels are $6.40. In some cases, an item that would have cost $12.75 with Australia Post fits in the 1kg satchel, with a $6.35 saving.
At first, I was being asked to manage a stream of delivery issues, which reduced (but didn't go away) when I made a habit of always putting the customer's phone number on the satchel. Here are a recent sample:
> A recent case of an item vanishing from their tracking system and disappearing entirely.
> Drivers unable to find properties and needing to have Google Maps printed for them.
> A customer being asked to drive 40km from the southern end of the Gold Coast to the northern end to collect an item.
> An item being left inside a mailbox, and then recorded as 'Signed for' on the tracking, even though it wasn't signed for. I was told that this is normal practice.
> A limited amount of time before they want to return to sender.
Australia Post may very occasionally return items, but at least they don't call me to get extra help in organising deliveries. On balance, the savings with Fastway seem to be outweighed by the time devoted to managing various problems.
I was wondering whether other people have had similar issues with them?
