Australia Post Driver Giving Us a Hard Time. Help!

sulmar on 18/01/2016 - 09:49

Hi,

Around mid last year, this delivery lady started leaving parcels in front of our door some which required signature. After one of them went missing (about 2 months ago), i made a complaint to Australia Post Office about her. Ever since, she has not tried to deliver any parcel but instead leaves the post card in our mail box. Having to go to Australia Post every day to collect our parcel really started bugging me as my family members order quite a bit. So last night i decided i will wait tomorrow morning (today) and confront her.

This morning at 7:30, i was waiting in my room and i saw her do the exact same thing (i.e leave a card in my mail box). I went outside and asked her why she isn't trying to deliver any of our parcels. She replied with 'because you made a complaint about me'. I told her the situation and why i did but she was very stubborn and rude. She continued to repeat the same thing and told me i would have to collect it from the post office. What pissed me off more was the fact she had our large parcels in her van but she refused to pass them. Anyhow, i just told her ok that's fine.

After she left, i waited until 8am and made another complaint about her to Australia Post on their complaints and feedback number.

She's been rude ever since she has been delivering to our house. She would pass parcels to my mum and wife in a rude manner but i just let it slide for over a year. I'm really sick of her now and i think enough is enough.

I'd really like some advice as to what more i can do or if anyone else has been in this situation.

Thanks in advance!

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Comments

    • UncommonName on 18/01/2016 - 10:12
      +75

      OP has a case here, what the driver doing is gross negligence and then vengeful act. I wish OP had recorded their conversation.

        • UncommonName on 18/01/2016 - 10:31
          +41

          OP stated they don't expect to go to post office everyday, so not sure how a PO box would help.

        • sulmar on 18/01/2016 - 10:40
          +10

          We are sort of a large family in a big house. Everyone loves doing e-shopping so there's alot of parcels on a regular basis. I am not sure if PO box is a good solution.

          Thanks for the suggestion though.

        • Shadowsfury on 18/01/2016 - 11:29
          -5

          @sulmar:

          You don't need to go check the PO Box every day, just go once or twice a week during business hours so that if they leave a parcel slip in there you can go collect it from the counter.

          I get all of my parcels that come via AP sent there.

        • onetwothreefour on 18/01/2016 - 13:51
          +56

          @Shadowsfury: why should the op have to go to a PO box to collect their parcels when he's paid for them to be delivered to his house?

        • dogboy on 19/01/2016 - 14:48
          +5

          @sulmar: Another option is to get them delivered to your place of work.

        • BestofOZB on 20/01/2016 - 20:48
          +8

          Postie's name must be Lauren!

        • Laurenlauren on 21/01/2016 - 00:07
          +3

          @BestofOZB: ouch

        • Associatedchika @ Australia Post on 21/01/2016 - 19:42

          I reckon she's not a postie as she drives a van. These days alot of sub-contractors take care of parcel delivering business. And subcontractors do not deal directly with Australiapost thats why lots of them dont care about customer services. If she was a postie, i dont think Austpost will let her do it again and again.

        • sulmar on 21/01/2016 - 21:15

          She's not a postie i am 100% sure.

        • mmd on 21/01/2016 - 23:24

          @onetwothree:
          I used to do this until I lost parcels/letters/magazines.
          The PO box ensures no one steals your mail

        • joannatan on 22/01/2016 - 17:51

          the straight answer is the posties need to be sack, the posties represent the post office. so if she doing this way same thing damage the australian post reputation

    • ronnknee on 20/01/2016 - 15:00
      +1

      If someone gives you crap, you don't have to take it.

    • macrocephalic on 18/01/2016 - 10:39
      +45

      They're not a government employee, they're a contractor.

    • p1 ama on 18/01/2016 - 15:24
      +67

      As a government employee, I find this quite offensive. There are plenty of people working for the public service, many of whom are great people who do a very good job.

      You don't even have the right grouping. Australia Post is not a government department and she is no more a "govt employee" than anybody who works at Telstra.

      Perhaps you should actually educate yourself on who are government employees before you make spurious comments.

      • Rocket6 on 19/01/2016 - 11:13
        +18

        I agree with you here mate, although one thing - Aus Post is a Government-owned entity.

        • p1 ama on 19/01/2016 - 16:03
          +9

          You're right, it is owned by the government, but its management and operations are completely distinct from government and the government has surprisingly little control over the operations of Australia Post apart from its charter.

          Employees of Australia Post are employed by Australia Post Corporation, which just happens to be Australian owned, not by the government. They are not public servants and don't abide by the Public Service Act 1999.

          Usually the word "government employees" refer to those who work in government departments such as Treasury, DFAT (Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade), Department of Finance & Deregulation…etc.

          If you consider all employees of government owned entities to be government employees then we will have a very, very large population of government employees. Just think about hospitals, universities, schools, traffic authorities…etc. These are all very similar to Australia Post in their relationship to the government, i.e. owned, but not under direct control of. I wouldn't really consider any of their employees government employees or public servants, same with AusPost.

        • Serapis on 20/01/2016 - 02:49
          +3

          Australia Post uses contractor drivers for delivery, same as others like TNT and Startrack. Or they get employees of other companies to do it in a van with an Auspost logo:

          http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-30/parcel-drivers-claim-u…

          Employees under Austpost are not Australian Public Service employees. They are working under a corporation given power by the government under the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989.

        • MementoMori on 20/01/2016 - 09:45
          +4

          @paulsterio: What they mean is AusPost contractors still have the 'government employee' culture.

          Go work at DHL or similar, I'm sure it's completely different.

          I had a friend work in IT at AusPost, slackest bunch of people he's ever worked with (his words).

        • Rocket6 on 20/01/2016 - 10:55
          +2

          @paulsterio: Hmm, that is an interesting point. Its funny, because I would very much consider those who worked at a govt. hospital to be public servants.

          I commonly hear the CEO of Aus Post referred to as the highest paid public servant in Aus (make your own mind up yourself as to whether you think he justifies this pay-check) but I do see where you're coming from.

          Up-voted for providing a good argument. We will agree on one thing, its not cool for anyone to generalise and indicate that a "typical govt employee" is one that thinks they are doing everyone a favour. Real mature of bargainaus.

        • p1 ama on 20/01/2016 - 11:51
          +1

          @Rocket6: I guess you can think of it this way. Duracell is owned by Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet's company). I wouldn't say that the employees who work for Duracell are Berkshire Hathaway employees. Similarly, if you own shares in company X, it doesn't mean that the people who work there are your employees.

          So you would consider most surgeons to be public servants? That's probably an interesting point of view to take, for sure.

          Either way, I agree - we can get into semantics about it, but making generalisations about any group of employees isn't cool, there are good apples and bad apples in any group and we shouldn't generalise.

      • JV159 on 22/01/2016 - 12:45
        +3

        Before you say things like "Educate yourself" to people over small non-issues, just bare in mind that Aus Post delivery workers don't wear a sign on their uniform saying who pays them.

        If you take a quick look at the AusPost website (http://auspost.com.au/about-us/fast-facts-about-australia-po…) first dot point, it says that "Australia Post is a Government Business Enterprise. The Commonwealth Government of Australia is our sole shareholder."

        So naturally one would be under the impression that it is (or mostly) a government run thing.
        I'm not saying anybody is wrong or right, i'm saying there's no subject in school or major at uni for who owns what and what runs this and that.

        • p1 ama on 22/01/2016 - 14:28
          +3

          It's not a small issue. The problem isn't with who owns what or who runs what. That was never the problem. The problem is stereotyping and generalizing. Saying that all government employees are stuck up is just like saying all engineers are lazy, all doctors are incompetent, all women are weak, all men are violent or all Asians are cheap. You're categorizing the entire group by the behavior of a very select few.

        • JV159 on 22/01/2016 - 20:25

          @paulsterio: my friend, i did not say (or intend to imply) anybody was slack or generalized any person/job/industry or harm any fragile souls when i posted my earlier comment.
          All i was saying is, most folk wouldn't know, or wouldn't really give a damn about who pulls the strings at Auspost deliveries dept. I even looked it up on the Auspost website and it says that they're a government owned enterprise, who they hire otherwise to bring the parcels is a different story and most people wouldn't waste soo much energy thinking about it.
          Anyway, hopefully the OP gets this problem with the postie sorted, or the postie gets transferred and moves on so they don't have to deal with it anymore.

        • p1 ama on 23/01/2016 - 11:10
          +1

          @JV159: I was referring to the original comment (not yours), which was why I made my post in the first place. But I think you're a pretty reasonable guy and I get your point of view, so no hard feelings. You're right - the main thing is that OP gets his problem sorted. Have a good one!

      • TassieJones14 on 22/01/2016 - 18:46
        +1

        Hey Paul, wow gaining a lot of upvotes. Remember your ATARNotes days? No wonder you're a government employee!

        • JV159 on 22/01/2016 - 20:26

          Full time Bureaucrat

    • TrustMeImAnEngineer on 19/01/2016 - 21:28
      +2

      Rekt mate

    • BestofOZB on 20/01/2016 - 20:50
      +4

      Typical customer that all government employees hate…entitled!

  • Ryanek on 18/01/2016 - 10:12
    +27

    I can't vouch for its effectiveness but the Postal Ombudsman might help? http://www.pio.gov.au/making-a-complaint/
    I once had an issue from a computer store who ran out of a stock of an item I ordered, and was taking weeks to issue me a refund. As soon as they received a letter from my ombudsman they promptly processed the refund the next day.

    Australia post lost $222 million last year. That postie is helping to digger her own grave.

    • strangeloops66 on 18/01/2016 - 10:20

      She wears jack boots and has a moustache….

      • Bigsta on 18/01/2016 - 10:23
        -5

        dont judge, she might think your hipster beard is weird too.

    • ProjectZero on 18/01/2016 - 10:39
      +55

      I don't understand what you mean by this… Do you mean the OP was being disrespectful?

      The way I see it, no complaints was made until there was a lost parcel due to her negligence. Then instead of doing her job properly from then on, she leaves an attempted delivery card without actually attempting delivery…

      • sulmar on 18/01/2016 - 10:44
        +20

        ^Exactly that.

        I would not be in her shoes to begin with. Had she done her job properly to begin with, none of this would have happened.

    • BuyoTheCat on 18/01/2016 - 11:50
      +14

      I put on her shoes. It was a little big, but fortunately it didnt smell any better or worse than my shoes.

      Those shoes really have an effect. Right from the moment I put them on, I really want to bring the parcels to the doors and ring for someone to sign for it instead of just leaving a card.

    • goraygo on 19/01/2016 - 20:38
      +3

      She get paid to do her job. If someone complains, move on and keep doing what's she's receive her salary for, which is to follow the process.

      Abusing her power and break her own organization process isn't the right thing to do no matter how anyone looking at it.

      This sort of behavior should not be tolerated and I agreed with Op to do something about it and please make it as big as possible.

    • subywagon on 19/01/2016 - 22:16
      +1

      If she was doing her job properly in the first place, she never would have had a complaint made against her.

    • [Deactivated] on 19/01/2016 - 23:29
      +2

      Maybe she should put on sulmar's shoes for a minute.

    • MrTweek on 22/01/2016 - 10:42
      +2

      And then what?
      If you do a shitty job on purpose, you can't expect people to to just live with this and leave you alone.
      If you don't give Auspost an 'authority to leave', they are not authorised to leave.
      Carding a parcel should only happen if a parcel can't get delivered for whatever reason, not because you think the customer is a dick.

      If she does both, the does her job wrong, not even out of negligence but while knowing it is wrong.
      She INTENTIONALLY does a bad job, because she can't be bothered. That's reason enough to get fired, really.

      There might be reasons, i.e. the workload being too high, too much pressure, and so on, but there is no excuse for treating your customers badly, because you don't like your company/managers/whatever.

  • supnigs super skids on 18/01/2016 - 10:30
    +9

    Make complaints about her again for what she had done wrong again. Easy peesy. :)

  • oscargamer on 18/01/2016 - 10:41
    +17

    You have a legitimate complaint. Arrange a meeting with the local PO and ask that the postie do her job or you'll go higher.

    • sulmar on 18/01/2016 - 10:46
      +6

      I tried speaking with them on several occasions but they say to complain to the head office.

      • xiaoyjie on 20/01/2016 - 20:24
        +5

        That is right, The contractor work for the Mail Delivery Centre in your area not the local post office.

      • Associatedchika @ Australia Post on 21/01/2016 - 19:50
        +7

        True! Local P.O has nothing to do with posties or contractors. You should call 131318 or email them and do it everyday if you can until the problem is solved! Everytime complaint is logged, the manager will have a say to her. And if it keeps happening, she will be in real trouble!

    • DJ Sex Crimes on 22/01/2016 - 01:30
      +3

      Local post offices (especially those licensed/ franchised) have nothing to do with the posties that deliver in your local area. They are employed by AP, so your complaints should be directed to AP head office.

    • sulmar on 18/01/2016 - 10:48

      I would but mum and wife love ordering from a few websites and they unfortunately use Australia Post.

  • SnoozeAndLose on 18/01/2016 - 10:48
    +28

    You can install an IP camera at your front door, it will be so cleaned only for day or two to prove she did not even attempt to lock on your door before writing the card, as she is an contractor this may made her lose her job and get revenge on you, then you will need more cameras.

    Or try to talk to her respectfully and she will understand what she caused you. This will be a win-win situation. Even give her a drink to become friendly, I think no one want any hard time while working.

    • dogboy on 19/01/2016 - 15:02
      +6

      This is the best advice here - firstly get evidence of what she is doing to back up your claims and then try and resolve the issue with her through talk. If that doesn't resolve the issue you have the evidence to go higher.

      • sulmar on 19/01/2016 - 23:00
        +1

        She isn't willing to talk that's the problem. Like i tried speaking to her nicely about why she was leaving the card in the mail box and she didn't even bother to get out of her car or come close and talk. She was sort of screaming from the other side of the road. She's always been rude and nasty to begin with.

        Dad was telling me today he saw her last year leaving a card in the mail box without knocking on the door (this is before the above incident took place). So he asked her if she could please knock the door before leaving the card. She replied with 'the women never open the door' which was a straight up lie.

        • SnoozeAndLose on 20/01/2016 - 10:07

          have you thinking of taking the first suggestion to get camera for evident and sue the lady until she lose her job?

        • sulmar on 20/01/2016 - 12:54
          +2

          Yeah i am considering this now.

          Thanks for the suggestion.

        • Flowerbomb on 21/01/2016 - 07:06
          +4

          @sulmar: put it on YouTube and Facebook it on the auspost page. Media attention usually escalates it.

        • che_97 on 21/01/2016 - 12:45
          +3

          @Cronut: +1 this. You could also order some stupid cheap things just to have them delivered. Then you could compile the video footage with her doing it several days in a row.

          First tell her this as you might actually end her employment and livelihood. Not that she doesn't deserve it for her excellent customer service but be the bigger person and give her a final chance before you put the sword to her.

          That way you won't have anything hanging over your head if she does get fired. You did everything you could.

          Not only is it part of her job (to at least attempt the delivery) but it's part of the service you pay for when you pay for delivery. You paid for delivery to your home ( or where ever you had it sent). Having to go the post office is a pain in the behind because you have to go in their hours. Working long hours may mean you don't get to the post office at least a few days later.

        • Handsoff on 21/01/2016 - 16:06
          +4

          @che_97: So, the postie who was wrong in the first place and received a complaint about it and then made the situation even worse deserves to be warned she might lose her job? In my opinion she already deserved to lose her job. The OP gave her a chance by 1. Filing a complaint 2. Attempting to talk to her 3. Filing another complain. Isn't the sensible solution to be if she doesn't want to do her job properly then replace her and find someone that will? How many chances does 1 person get?

        • che_97 on 21/01/2016 - 22:54
          +2

          @Handsoff: fair enough if you feel that way.
          I would feel remorse if I hadn't done everything within my power to not have her lose her job before I threatened anything. As other people have mentioned. She knows where you live. I wouldn't want that hanging over my head.

        • youbeokay on 22/01/2016 - 00:02

          It's her job to knock the door, btw, was your complaint too harsh?

    • love2buy on 22/01/2016 - 07:55
      -2

      Lol so much emphasis on cameras. Seriously who gives a rats arse about them if they were there. How many times have you seen half eaten food or drinks that most likely haven't been paid for inside supermarkets with cameras virtually at every corner.

      • salbee28 on 22/01/2016 - 12:53
        +2

        I think the emphasis on cameras was more to provide proof of what she is doing, not necessarily to deter her from doing it.

  • cloudy on 18/01/2016 - 11:15
    +2

    Hi OP,

    I think I'm in the same situation, but I haven't complained about him due to fear that he knows where I live, and secondly, would probably push him to do the same as what this lady does to you.

    We're basically at mercy of the situation, coz she can continue to just say your not home and continue chucking a card in ur box. It's unfortunate. I've basically given up on buying online unless I really need to, in which case I have it posted to my parents, where I regularly visit and pick it up from them when I see them.

    Good part is, I go out more shopping :)

  • autolux on 18/01/2016 - 11:29
    +31

    I thought this was basically every parcel delivery contractor… Have rarely seen anything but a card in the mailbox in years. Be it laziness, or they're just so overworked they could never get around to it all but whatever. Kinda came to accept it. Parcel lockers are the best thing since sliced bread.

    • stralya on 18/01/2016 - 12:33
      +9

      Fully agree. If you have a parcel locker nearby, it's the best option. And it is free.

    • arescarti42 on 19/01/2016 - 11:27
      +3

      Agreed.

      I'd continue to complain, but ultimately if that goes nowhere, then you're better off getting a parcel locker.

      They'll notify you immediately when it has arrived via sms/email, and you won't have to wait in line at the PO.

      • carkell on 19/01/2016 - 11:55
        +1

        Parcel lockers are great but there arent that many of them. I had one around the corner from my old place an used it regularly. New house doesnt have on close by though :( Hopefully AusPost starts rolling more out soon.

        • Sirocco on 20/01/2016 - 16:52
          -3

          I hope they don't. They are the most abused service by drug syndicates. Fake id to register and away you go.

    • hayne on 19/01/2016 - 13:19
      +5

      this - our postie doesn't even get the parcel out, he puts the card in the mailbox and then rings the doorbell and does a runner so that it's impossible to get out there and receive the package.

    • ankor on 19/01/2016 - 18:58
      +5

      I can honestly say the posties that we have are very good in my neighbourhood. Really happy with them. Thank goodness for that too, since I've had things up to $600 delivered by signature etc.

    • syousef on 20/01/2016 - 15:22
      +2

      You are suppose to be paying to have something delivered to your door, not your suburb.

      • xconcepx on 21/01/2016 - 06:29
        +2

        If its a house than no problems. If its a unit than forget about it. Especially all these new bigger developments all over the place that takes ages to find the unit because people are too lazy to come downstairs. It is a lot more efficient for the person to come downstairs than someone who doesnt know where there going to try and locate you within the complex. Driver gets paid the same so no way they'll jump through hoops to get a single parcel off for a unit. Do this all day and you'll get bugger all done.

        • syousef on 21/01/2016 - 10:36
          +4

          That's Aus Post's problem. If you can't deliver to units don't advertise a service that promises it can.

        • sulmar on 21/01/2016 - 12:35
          +1

          It's a house, mentioned it above somewhere.

  • Davo1111 on 18/01/2016 - 12:00
    +13
    1. Get an official complaint form from the post office.
    2. Fill out the form and record the complaint/reference number
    3. Repeat 2&3 until the issue is resolved
    4. Complain to the PIO, with above evidence. (No reference = no resolution)
  • betweenrows on 18/01/2016 - 12:11
    +4

    The staff at the local PO won't do anything, I've been there before. Fill in an online complaint form via the website and follow it up with a phone call to them in a couple of days (quoting complaint number). Explain to them what a massive inconvenience it is to have to go and pick up parcels and that she is not even trying to deliver them to you. I had to do this some time back and the guy then started holding the buzzer down for around 30 seconds to p!ss me off, but at least I got the parcels :) After a while he was replaced (or he quit) and the new guy is friendly and always rings the buzzer.

    • onetwothreefour on 18/01/2016 - 13:53
      +27

      can we call her a d!ckhead?

        • tikei on 19/01/2016 - 14:23
          +17

          I'm female, Asian, not middle aged, and not privileged and I sometimes do bitchy things. When I'm aware that I'm being one, I'm ok with people calling me one. Just like how I'm fine calling other females the same thing and men @ssholes.

          I do wonder if the privileged are the ones who like to get caught up being overly PC.

        • Parentheses on 20/01/2016 - 20:02
          +7

          Idiot is ablist, clown demeans circus workers, who throughout history have been populations like the Romani who were systematically oppressed, deranged is also ablist and fartbag is triggering for people with IBS/Crohn's disease who literally have fart and shit bags attached to their bodies.

          Every insult from bitch, to retard, to 'someone who uses the word problematic unironically' is comparing someone to some other type of person who the insulter feels is less than what people aspire to be. There is literally no insult you can use which does not work like that.

          Of course, sane people recognise that you CAN call someone a bitch without thinking women belong silent and in the kitchen.

        • tomsco on 21/01/2016 - 08:46
          +1

          @Parentheses: Stop ranting, you spork! :p

        • PleasureMe on 21/01/2016 - 11:44
          +4

          Who are you? PC Principal?

    • mousie on 19/01/2016 - 16:16
      +5

      No

    • drillvoice on 19/01/2016 - 22:27

      Thank you.

      • mskeggs on 19/01/2016 - 23:35

        Um…no worries? It's pretty easy to ask people to be decent humans. Particularly at OzBargain where nearly everyone is already a decent person. And to be clear, i wasn't super cranky at commenters who made sexist insults. I don't think there are many people on OzBargain who would think women are worth less than men or some other similar view from the olden days. If I'm wrong I urge those people to reply and be counted, cause I think it is worth discussing because it is important.
        But people, including me, reach for the close by insult to throw at somebody. I grumble about Asian/woman/bogan/lunatic drivers because stuck in those traffic lights is the time when I get frustrated and don't think clearly. But as you can see, those insults do me no credit, as they are based not on the particular person WHO SHOULD HAVE MADE THAT TURN WHAT WERE THEY WAITING FOR!!! But about unkind stereotypes.
        So I try and be realistic. I don't know anybody who is perfect in these areas, and I don't expect I'll be perfect anytime soon.
        I try and be cautious with these kind of slurs around my kids, cause I don't want to see them perpetuated, even if my rage brain is hearing them.
        And I don't like seeing places I value for the high number of women and minorities contributing become a place where careless slurs become a usual thing.
        I am no longer surprised at the cultural diversity on OzB because I now always think "hey, this comment is going to be read by Asian and Islamic and islander and who knows which cultures" so I try to be reasonably sensitive (note, I don't necessarily avoid offence, just careless ;-)
        And it would be super stupid to think that OzB was a boys club, because it so clearly isn't. Some of the best commenters and deal posters are women, even if their username doesn't broadcast that fact. So insults that are sexist are likely to be felt more by those members, even when they aren't the target.

        Bottom line is I want a place that delivers great bargains, and if there is a comment culture hostile to women, or gays or Asians or whites or any group, we will have a poorer community without their contributions. I have no interest in being the cops on this - I'm not a super user or admin - just a guy who wants the best community and best bargains.
        So I would request you think of others before you post something nasty, even if it would pass the "OK" test in a bunch of mates at the pub. We are a big, diverse community where nobody is looking to restrict your expression or hamper your enjoyment, I'm just personally asking you be a little considered in posts, and if somebody says "hey" consider whether you want to make more posts like that.

        • gimli on 20/01/2016 - 06:59
          +5

          Jv is not the best commenter. Just a spammer.

        • drillvoice on 20/01/2016 - 09:05

          Thanks for the thoughts. It is striking that OzB seems to be a better community than most other places on the internet, and so there's definitely value in working towards making sure all the diverse members can be part of the conversation.

        • wannagrababargain on 20/01/2016 - 19:23
          +8

          No one was making this about 'sex' or 'diversity' until you joined the conversation.

        • khomeini on 21/01/2016 - 13:42

          Ah the good ole days, when men could be men. looks for spittoon & shakes head at where I find myself now

          I appreciate most of your comments mskeggs. Think they're well throughout and pretty much on the ball. Perhaps I have a similar mindset hence the agreement.

          OZB does have a diverse readership, and opinions are vast (as in the real world) but interesting when "divisive" topics are raised and I think we're in good stead if this reflects on the general populous views.

          Alas they're not quite the same as the opinion's as on Andrew Bolt blogs or Alan Jones programs sarcasm

          PS. Male, non-white minority (religious minority), middle aged (if 36 is middling age) not privileged commentary here

        • secondstory on 23/01/2016 - 18:42
          -1

          @wannagrababargain:

          While I don't happen to see the actual use of the term b**** prior to the post(perhaps it has since been removed or I just missed it, but I assume it was there given the context) if the delivery person happened to be asian in this instance and everyone was replying with things like "that asian guy didn't even try to knock" etc.
          Even though noone was making it about racism, it would surely be the elephant in the room.

          It is stating things for how they are, but the identification of the specific grouping of individuals may make some people uncomfortable.

          I also don't think it's a great solution when everyone becomes numb to the use of terms which degrade subsets of people. It is a rather strong term and @mskeggs sounds to be simply expressing concern over the negligence on the part of anyone uses the term more loosely in that they may be offending members of the community (although @Parentheses makes a very good point)

          Regardless, I personally think b**** is not super inappropriately used here. If the word "whore" was being thrown around instead, however, I think @mskeggs would likely have more support than this.

    • ThadtheChad on 22/01/2016 - 11:25
      +1

      If someone talks and behaves like a bitch; and overall is a nasty vindictive person, what does that make him/her?

      A C***.

      Downvote away!

  • Bargaphile on 18/01/2016 - 13:26
    +9

    Get all your family members to do a written formal complaint, they have forms for it. I got someone canned for this type of thing

    • sulmar on 18/01/2016 - 14:14
      +2

      Yeah good idea, i might try this. Let's see what happens for now as I've already made a complaint.

      Thanks for that.

  • johninmelb on 18/01/2016 - 14:33
    +31

    There seems to be a bit of confusion here.

    Firstly, the woman in question is not a "postie", nor is she an employee of Australia Post. She works for a contractor who tenders for parcel delivery contracts.

    However, I would agree that Australia Post is providing the service - via the contractor - so the buck stops with them. Mail is not delivered from the local Post Office. Hasn't been for donkey's years. So pointless talking to the local Post Office. It is probably just a franchise anyway, and there is nothing they can do. Not their problem. They are just running a shopfront selling stamps and miscellaneous junk.

    Parcels are delivered from Local Delivery Centres. Find out where your LDC is and see if you can approach management there. It is likely to be where the Parcel Lockers for your area are, and you can find that on the AP website.

    This is an ongoing problem I suspect, though I personally have not had a problem. However, I have very few parcels delivered to my house. Most stuff goes to my PO Box. By the way, if you have a PO Box, you can subscribe to a daily alert via MY POST. Log in each morning and it will tell you if you have mail in your box.

    Secondly, the parcel contractors are being screwed all the time by AP, to get the costs down. So I suspect the drivers they employ are paid a pittance. However, that DOES NOT excuse bad service.

    A friend of mine currently has two AP parcel delivery contracts, and employs a number of people, and has several vans to cover his two areas. However, I don't know how he runs his business or anything about it, other than the fact that this Christmas just gone was an absolute nightmare for him with massive backlogs of parcels waiting to be delivered. Word is that AP apparently "lost" thousands of parcels, and then mysteriously "found" them again.

    At the end of the day, nothing will change. We all know AP is atrocious. Service is non-existant, prices sky high, and they are just digging a deeper and deeper hole for themselves. Ahmed Fahour has proved himself to be totally useless, but he ain't going anywhere, any time soon.

    Everyone knows full well that privatising it will achieve nothing, but more pain as we saw with Telecom, the electricity and gas utilities, private health insurance, building inspections, etc etc, need I go on.

    Government is not perfect at running things, that's a given. But AP provides a service that no private company will provide, and some poor little nobody who lives out in Woop Woop West is entitled to a mail service just as much as you, I, Malcolm Turnbull, and Bill Shorten et al. That's the Australian way isn't it?

    • MATTDAMON on 18/01/2016 - 15:17
      +3

      Alot of DC's/MC's wont actually speak to customers directly, and they dont control the contractors, thats all done by the state rep.

      Anyways, best method is to go to the post office and ask for the green complaint form, fill it out, get it faxed to strawberry hills head office, in addition have it posted as well.

      Any complaint needs to be in writing before they will act, remember even though its not a government organisation, its still treated like one, meaning paperwork trail is the key.

      • sulmar on 18/01/2016 - 20:50

        Alright, if things don't work out i guess that's the next step.

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