I believe most pillaging is done on the trucks, probably before the mail gets to the sorting centres. I also believe that registering a package is just admitting that the item is valuable, an open invitation. If an item doesn't reach its intended destination, I blame that mostly on Aus Post,  not the seller or buyer.  

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@wan303win wrote:

I believe most pillaging is done on the trucks, probably before the mail gets to the sorting centres. I also believe that registering a package is just admitting that the item is valuable, an open invitation. If an item doesn't reach its intended destination, I blame that mostly on Aus Post,  not the seller or buyer.  

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I take exception to that. My husband has carted mail on more than one occasion. Mail bags are weighed before leaving the PO and again when they arrive at the sorting centre, so I think if stuff was getting nicked off the trucks, someone would know about it pretty quickly. If it was going to be nicked, it's more likely to happen at the sorting centre. Or in the case of Chullora, Sunshine West and Underwood, they fall into the big black pit in the middle of the building.

Not to mention they all have spying CCTV all day, every day. And night as well, probably; to make sure they don't use AP assets to run down the shops.

Is your husband the designated mail man?

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@joetheseed wrote:

Is your husband the designated mail man?

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No, because he'd never come home if he was. No way he could cover all the mail for the country.

I agree with Tippy....I take exception to AP staff and contractors being blamed for missing mail.

I know what the security is like at the StarTrack depot in Sydney.  There are security guards on duty 24/7 and CCTV cameras all over the place.

The drivers are logged in and out of the depot and the vehicles randomly inspected both going in and out.  There is random drug and alcohol testing done regularly....my OH swears his middle name is random.

As for "losing" a parcel once it has left the depot....can't happen.  Every item is scanned into the system before it leaves the depot, scanned when delivered and if it cannot be delivered it is scanned back into the depot at night.   It a parcel does go missing it is not hard to find where it is supposed to be.  It is is not there the contractor is looking at instant dismissal.

Well I stated my thoughts, so all you folk who disagree...where DOES all this lost stuff go once it hits the counter at the PO? There's little credence in the "big black hole" theory.

I've sent items to my friends/relations, (who I'd trust with my wife or my life), that has failed to arrive, so I think your "security right throughout the AP system" idea may be a little flawed.

in the last two or three years I've had two registered parcels that never arrived, so where are they? 

This has been going on for decades.

I know that parcels at times get sent to the wrong person/town/suburb/street number, (whatever), when they have been correctly and clearly addressed...and all my parcels have the return address.

I think your only other option here is that the fault rests with buyers &/or sellers. 

I can only answer from a starTrack courier's point of view.....vans get broken into, especially in the city, and parcels get stolen.

We have had it happen a few times over the years, despite all vehicles having to be alarmed.

But because of the scanning that is done every step of the way it is soon known what is missing.

The driver reports it to the police and it is up to the base to liase with the customer.