Australia Post Vs Me - Who Is in The Wrong Here

Hi all,

Hope you're all well.

I'm just wanting to gauge who is in the wrong in a situation I'm currently faced with. While I'm biased I'd rather seek the opinions of those unbiased to ensure that I'm either right or in the wrong. I don't mind if your judgment is somewhat unrelenting towards me (if required) as I have noted that unrelenting opinions are common place on OZB.

Edit: The judges have made their verdict and I am indeed in the wrong. I'll take this in stride as a life lesson.
Photos have now been removed for privacy reasons

Disclaimer

This is a bit of a read so I do apologise in advance but I felt the need to be as detailed as possible so the judges may make an informed decision.

A bit of context:

I currently live in a 3 bedroom house which is situated near a school (Approx 800 metres), our front porch faces the road and is clearly visible from the footpath. The distance between the footpath and porch is approx 10 metres. We're renting this property and have been for a number of years and having the footpath within a small distance of our front door isn't a bother for us and hasn't resulted in any issues for us until now

While someone is usually home for deliveries however there are times that someone is out or unavailable to answer the door, for this reason I have put a sign right next to our front door for couriers to drop all deliveries into a heavy duty plastic box in front of our gate which is away from the footpath and is more secure.
This sign is difficult to overlook as it's approx chest height and you see it as you're walking up the path to the front door and even if they take an alternative route (Eg. across the grass).

We have a camera in that area as that area also doubles as our carport so we have a camera facing our vehicles which also doubles as a camera to watch the courier delivery box.
This was an idea I came up with shortly after moving into this property as I foresaw the minor issue. ALL couriers except one (I kid you not) have followed those instructions accordingly for all Authority to Leave (ATL) related deliveries. Any deliveries that need to be signed for are either signed for if someone is home or a card is left (Standard courier operating procedure)

Getting to the point:

On Wednesday (03/08) an Australia Post courier delivered a package to us, the package didn't require a signature so it was left. This courier decided to either overlook my clear + hard to miss instructions at eye-level upon approaching the front door and leave the package at the front door and didn't ring the doorbell or knock on the door. Somebody was home at the time but due to the dump and run without a knock at the door or doorbell ring we weren't aware until I received the 'Your package has been delivered' notification approx 30 minutes later (I seem to get them late for some reason) so I went out to my Courier Delivery box to find it wasn't there, I went looking for the package thinking the courier left it somewhere out of sight, to no avail. I requested a proof of delivery photo of where the courier delivered it, which was at the front door (photo below0

The default ATL instruction (Which applies to all packages unless you change it) was set to deliver to 'Mailbox - If safe to do so' - I didn't change this as I haven't really needed to change it as ALL couriers follow my instructions accordingly.

I emailed Australia Post informing them that the package was not there approx 30 minutes after delivery and that the courier didn't follow my instructions and to request possible compensation. The reply we received instructed us to check with our neighbours to see if they accepted the delivery on our behalf (They did not) otherwise to contact Victoria Police. It is my understand that Victoria Police have better things to do then to investigate petty theft for courier driver incompetence.

Also for those wondering, I haven't got front cameras installed as we have never had an incident happen in this area. We live in a somewhat safe area. The camera we do have that faces the carport/gate area + where the box is left is primarily to protect our vehicles.

Most of our neighbours do not have cameras as far as I can see without snooping too much. I very much doubt Victoria Police would do anything even with footage.

I would prefer to deal with Australia Post directly as opposed to going through the seller as the item was purchased off Aliexpress.
On a previous unrelated occasion I opened up a dispute on Aliexpress and it was closed in the sellers favour, the Australia Post tracking stopped at the last leg of the journey and the seller claimed that I had to pick it up 'from my local post office' which wasn't true at all and Aliexpress sided with them.
Also I don't see this as the sellers fault even if it was a local seller as it's Australia Post courier incompetence.

Judgement time:

Am I in the right to pursue this further with Australia Post and request compensation or am I in the wrong.

Final Note:

I'm aware that there have been reports of civilians (per se) following courier vehicles around and picking up what they drop off, whether that has happened here I do not know. I don't want to wrongly over-extend myself but whether the courier in question had something to do with it (eg. by proxy) I'm not sure.

Related Stores

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Comments

  • +14

    I would prefer to deal with Australia Post directly as opposed to going through the seller as the item was purchased off Aliexpress.

    Australia Post have no contract with you and aren’t obliged to offer you anything. I’m amazed they did previously. They’re contracted by the seller only so you need to go to seller and try to sort it out. It’s also why post insurance exists.

    Deliverers are also not obliged to follow your personal preference sign instructions or courier box setup.

    • Just to nuance this response slightly, AusPost's Delivery Policy (and their corresponding internal operating procedures for employees and contractors) actually includes courier box operation:

      "…A private parcel box, which is a larger mail box available commercially that provides for the delivery of letters and Parcels. Delivery to these boxes normally requires access codes and delivery is undertaken on a best endeavors basis. Australia Post delivery personnel do not hold keys or access codes to these boxes, the access code must be included in the address by the sender…"

      We used a Milkcan "Parcel Pal 2" at our last house (bolted to the front verandah) and AusPost, FedEx, DHL and TNT all used it without any drama. Only the perennially useless Couriers Please and Fastway/Aramex struggled with it. 🤦‍♂️ We simply had our delivery address formatted like this:

      Firstname Lastname
      1 Generic Street
      (Parcel box code 982)
      Suburb State Postcode

  • +12

    Quote "Who Is in The Wrong Here"…. The parcel thief is the answer. The parcel appears to have been delivered correctly by delivery. Report stolen to police. See if you can utilise a parcel locker next time for Aust Post parcel deliveries or check to see if there is an alternative signature required delivery method.

    • +1

      Exactly. You and Australia Post have apparently both been wronged by a thief. Who is to say if wouldn't have been stolen even if they did drop it in your container? Time to get a parcel locker as suggested and move on.

    • -1

      The parcel appears to have been delivered correctly by delivery

      err

      We left your parcel in a safe place

      don't think so.

      they left it in full view of a public street, if they couldn't find a safe place to put it (ie if the driver couldn't read or was too lazy to walk around to the delivery box) they shouldn't have delivered it at all and taken it back to the post office.

  • +2

    Use parcel collect service instead, parcel will send to post office.

  • +17

    I don't think you can use the 'somone was home at the time' argument given your sign states "do NOT ring door bell."

    The problem is you have attempted to introduce your own mail delivery procedure - Australia Post are not bound by this procedure.

    P.s. I had grandious visions of your delivery box and must admit I was disapointed when I saw the photo.

    • +3

      you have attempted to introduce your own mail delivery procedure - Australia Post are not bound by this procedure

      ↑ This. End of thread.

      Sorry Op. I can see you've done your best to manage risk of theft at the property but your instructions do not override AusPost's operating procedures.

      Chalk this one up as a life lesson.

    • +3

      "P.s. I had grandious visions of your delivery box and must admit I was disapointed when I saw the photo."

      Same here. Was thinking some perspex, one way only, contraption ( perspex so that the postie can take a pic of the parcel in there )

      If the postie would take a pic of that ugly green box, he has ZERO proof of delivery. Your setup looks more like a postie/courier scam trap.

  • +7

    You are in the wrong for expecting a post delivery person to follow some kind of procedure that was not previously agreed upon.

    When the delivery is inbound by Australia post you can goto the tracking site and specify what you want to happen.

    No signature on delivery means they can just leave it and leave, there is no need to ring your doorbell.

    Install security cameras are probably your best bet to prevent this in the future.

  • -1

    you are in the right, even if they chose not to leave it in the box, they have to put it in a safe place, if there are no safe places, they have to take it back on the truck and you can pick it up from post office later. a front porch in full view of a street is not a "safe place"

    chase seller, as unfortunately for them, they are responsible for the package until it reaches you, which it never did in this case, they have to chase auspost.

    auspost should compensate, but the only way they will do so is if the seller makes a big enough stink about it, they usually stonewall everyone until all but the most persistent go away, it works, as a lot of people just can't be bothered.

  • Just so annoying for you :(

  • Didnt read it - but my answer is always Australia Post are wrong

  • +1

    Plot twist

    Op bought a $1.99 phone case from aliexpress and has wasted numerous hours of their life trying to recover it instead of moving on and learning from the experience.

    • +1

      Big box for a phone case my man

  • They do this all the time so I complained to Aus Post. They told me they are allowed to dump and run without knocking or ringing doorbell.

  • +2

    If you get parcels delivered to your house you are taking a risk. You have to decide if the convenience is worth that risk.

    If the convenience is not worth the risk, get it delivered to a parcel locker.

    When I get something expensive delivered or something that has time pressure involved and I can't buy it in a local shop I get it delivered to a parcel locker. Anything I don't care that much about or is easy to replace I get sent to my house. Haven't had anything stolen yet luckily but if they did it would be something I wouldn't get super unhappy over.

    By the way, how is it any less safe getting it delivered to your front door as opposed to the box, considering you have a big sign at the front saying there might be parcels in the box? Someone could easily read that then go help themselves to the box.

  • I gotta be honest, not saying its right but if I was on the clock and saw your wordy instructions list that really could just be "please put it in the box over there", I would probs just do the bare minimum required by their job.

    Again, not saying this is right or moral either, but the over emphasised "do NOT knock" would irk me too.

    I'm saying all this as someone that has been burnt by AusPost myself before, they have their issues but I personally wouldn't increase the chances of them happening by condescending/annoying the already fairly overworked staff.

    Just my 2c

  • Change that Notice color to ORANGE Background from WHITE Background.

  • +1

    Were you a Comms major by any chance?

  • Get a proper parcel locker and bolt it to your porch. Put up a sign that says, "Please only knock for parcels that require signature. Please."
    You can't expect couriers to read a book every time they rock up at your house.

  • +2

    and didn't ring the doorbell or knock on the door.

    Lol, your sign says not to.

    heavy duty plastic box

    Your delivery looks like it's BIGGER than your "heavy duty plastic box" "Courier Delivery box"…or as we call it, your $5 Reject Shop container

    that the courier didn't follow my instructions

    They're not required to.

    Final Note:

    Your writing style is hilarious. Would love to know what industry you work in. You could be anything from a low middle manager at a supermarket, office manager at a warehouse, a bookkeeper for a low tier global…. only specific roles of power tripping low authority over others type in that fashion in my personal experience.

  • You’re both in the wrong.

    Auspost sure for not leaving in a safe place.

    But you for expecting them to see that sign. I wouldn’t have seen that sign if I was looking to the ground for a safe place to leave it, or at the door itself/doorbell, not up for signs on electricity boxes that are irrelevant to what I’m here for.

    You should have put this in your delivery notes, not in a sign.

    If there was no way to do this, send direct to post office or parcel locker.

  • https://i.postimg.cc/fLyMk95n/1659630216260-cleaned.jpg

    Your sign says "Attention all couriers"
    I think AP call their people 'posties', not 'couriers'! 😋

  • +1

    Hi all,

    Thank you for your replies. They have been quite informative and immensely relenting. This post was only to gauge the general stance on my situation which has been achieved.

    The judges have made their verdict and I am indeed in the wrong. I'll take this in stride as a life lesson.

    I will be considering installing front cameras moving forward, and using Parcel Lockers or Parcel Collect (Deliver to post office) if required

    Photos have now been removed for privacy reasons

    • Have you considered a video doorbell? We rent and have a wireless one. Set it to record and alert me of people approaching/at the front door regardless of if they ring the doorbell or not. Records serve as both proof of delivery and proof of theft, not that we've ever had a package go missing.

  • +1

    Sign too complex. These couriers are often not very well paid and don’t have a lot of time. Simplify your process to make it easier.

    “Unsigned deliveries to box in carport please” is about all you need on the sign. Then a label on the box. That way the courier will process signed/unsigned first and determine the next step. If it’s Signed they’ll stop reading and do as normal is ring doorbell, leave note if no answer. Unsigned will read on …. and hopefully put it in the box.

  • -1

    Compensation? You entitled insert your choice of penalty box worthy word here

  • I mean, it is annoying. That’s why I have a po box.

    At least for 99.9% of parcels go there and no issues like this to worry about.

    Can I fix the problem with money and can afford to do so? If yes, I just do it and no more stress

  • +1

    i havent even read this and i know australia post is in the wrong 100%

  • Parcel collect is always better if you aren’t literally at home

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