There always be a need for a letter delivery service of some sort, for things such as legal notices (fines, etc), postal voting (Donald Trump notwithstanding) and people without electronic access. Might be incorporated in the parcels service, eg computer monitored to ensure there has been a parcel delivery in the last two days, if not, a separate delivery of any letters. An email address won't cut it, particularly if the 'post box' is on a foreign server (let alone the route it takes to get there).

I wouldn't mind the concentration on local parcel delivery it it was being done efficiently. My neighbour runs her own fashion design business from home and uses parcel post quite a lot. Two weeks ago, she sent one to Werribee - a place to which she or I could drive in 40 minutes. The parcel still hasn't arrived. This isn't the first such instance she's had of a complete lack of service. Why is the head honcho of AP getting over $2.5 m a year and talking about bonuses? It certainly can't be for "exceptional service."

Meanwhile I order a hamper for fathers day for my dad on the NSW Central Coast on Tues, said it would be delivered Tues this week, I got an email from Aust Post it was delivered on Friday and it came from Sydney (dad confirmed).

Sent a parcel from Dubai to NSW Central coast earlier this year via Emirates Post with tracking, 5 working days!

You win some you loose some.

I wouldn't mind the concentration on local parcel delivery it it was being done efficiently. My neighbour runs her own fashion design business from home and uses parcel post quite a lot. Two weeks ago, she sent one to Werribee - a place to which she or I could drive in 40 minutes. The parcel still hasn't arrived. This isn't the first such instance she's had of a complete lack of service. Why is the head honcho of AP getting over $2.5 m a year and talking about bonuses? It certainly can't be for "exceptional service."

Meanwhile I order a hamper for fathers day for my dad on the NSW Central Coast on Tues, said it would be delivered Tues this week, I got an email from Aust Post it was delivered on Friday and it came from Sydney (dad confirmed).

Sent a parcel from Dubai to NSW Central coast earlier this year via Emirates Post with tracking, 5 working days!

You win some you loose some.

I’ve no complaints re AP. Every other day delivery is neither here nor there.
Reckon I have one of the best, longest regular provider and prettiest posties in Sydney.

There always be a need for a letter delivery service of some sort, for things such as legal notices (fines, etc), postal voting (Donald Trump notwithstanding) and people without electronic access. Might be incorporated in the parcels service, eg computer monitored to ensure there has been a parcel delivery in the last two days, if not, a separate delivery of any letters. An email address won't cut it, particularly if the 'post box' is on a foreign server (let alone the route it takes to get there).

Nah, don't agree.

The letter deliveries are dropping by at least 20% YoY for over 10 years having peaking I think just prior to the GFC. At some point AP will keep cutting frequencies as the volumes continue to decline. They pushed this long over due change through using CV-19 as a cover. Future changes will likely be easier. 5/w -> 3/w-> 2/w -> 1/w.... They will likely use the excuse if you want more frequent, get a PO BOX, of course almost no one will.  

As I said before, I give it to 2025 for mail to decline to 1/wk for residential deliveries.

The other issue is that as letter volumes decline, sorting centres will be closed and mail will travel further for sorting, which will be fine as delivery frequencies will be 1-2 / week.

For those few users who still hang out beyond 2025 - 2030, then likely mail will be held at post offices and you will get an sms or email to come and collect it or simply mail simply becomes a parcel with a higher cost for home delivery and the formal Letter mail service we all knew is closed.

I don't see issues with sending an email.


Ironically I find Australia govt sector services with its head firmly stuck in the past in adapting to new technology and still reliant on snail mail.

To get my degree attested for the UAE govt, in 2018 I had to send a Fax to the University of Tasmania to ask them to send a copy of my transcript to DFAT in Melbourne. I said Fax, do you know what year it is? They said emails can be intercepted and  taken so your credit card details can be stolen. That sounded all great until the lost the first fax in their office. To find a Fax at work (7000 people work for my company), I had to sneak in early and use the few remaining working Faxes in corporate office. Why not just be on line?

For DFAT I had to send a printed copy of the request with credit card details by registered mail from Dubai to DFAT Melbourne.

I think all up it took about 6 or so phone calls at 4am in the morning here and 3 weeks to complete the transaction.

Meanwhile in Dubai, almost every govt transaction is via app on your phone including car registration/transfer, power connect/unconnected etc etc. The bulk of the Dubai govt customer service centres will be closed by mid next year although CV-19 has accelerated the process this year.

I'm nearly up to 2 weeks for a parcel to get from Melb to Central Vic....

I assume you are tracking it Carnot?

I had a Fastway delivery from Melbourne a month or so back, never arrived.

Tracking showed it out for delivery a few days after it was shipped out then returned to Bendigo as undeliverable. Then sent out again a week later and shown on tracking as delivered at 8.40 PM on a Tuesday night!!! Which it wasn't, that was a lie, I was working in my office in the front room till after 11  and even if I hadn't heard the driver park out front or coming up the steps to the door the sensor light would have been a dead give away.

This sort of thing is becoming more and more common during Covid due to massive parcel loads leading to short cuts being taken by overworked drivers and contractors.

Tracking says it was processed in Melbourne on August 29.  And it hasn't moved since then....

Auspost is essentially in crisis. Dysfunctional.  It'll take them weeks and months to sort out.

Me too.
Item picked up at Oakleigh Monday 31/8
Processed at Melbourne Tuesday 1/9
No movement since.

Legal letters are rarely sent via anything as unreliable as Australia Post, most important legal documents are transported by specialised document couriers.

Postal voting will soon enough be a thing of the past too, with online options taking over.

‘Older people with no exposure to computers’ will have literally almost entirely died out in the next two decades.

Fines, car registration, etc go by mail.
It'll be ages before online voting is robust or secure enough.
There will always be people that can't or won't use online.

It'll be ages before online voting is robust or secure enough.
There will always be people that can't or won't use online.

They always Insist that voting be In physical paper form, so the votes can be seen In real, counted In real.

Online voting COULD be subject to hacking, tapping/monitoring, manipulation, etc

Fines, car registration, etc go by mail.
It'll be ages before online voting is robust or secure enough.
There will always be people that can't or won't use online.

I must be imagining that I paid my car rego online, after being advised by email, just a few days ago. As I have done for 2 or years, or more.

I must be imagining that I paid my car rego online, after being advised by email, just a few days ago. As I have done for 2 or years, or more.

Whew! I thought my imagination was playing tricks too.

Fines, car registration, etc go by mail.
It'll be ages before online voting is robust or secure enough.
There will always be people that can't or won't use online.

Fines etc, for a country that is very successful at selling IT solutions globally in many sectors, Australian govts are seemingly some of the slowest uptakers of technology (correction, obviously there are options to go online, we pay our Qld boat rego online) Using the mail system is completely outdated approach. UAE, all fines sent via sms and you go into the app to pay and car cannot re-registered until all fines are cleared.

Voting agree, online will take some time to change, it is however used OS. This however doesn't require the mail system we have today to retain a paper system.

Within 2 decades (likely alot less) the only people not online options will be handicapped in some manner, mental or physical.  Anyone under the age of 60-65 should be computer literate or living with someone who is. Anyone under the age of 40-45 should be computer literate. As there are people in this group over the age of 70 who seemingly able to use a PC and string a few sentences together with some level of success, the % of population the mail system is catering for is shrinking rapidly. Regardless, while home delivered mail may cease within 10 years this doesn't prevent the retention of pickup from post office to continue for sometime.

Me too.
Item picked up at Oakleigh Monday 31/8
Processed at Melbourne Tuesday 1/9
No movement since.

Having 1/3rd of the workforce sorting parcels in vic helps that. Also half the scanning for tracking isnt being done. (I had something jump from QLD to Melbourne all of a sudden, same with stuff getting sorted in Sydney)

I still use AustraliaPost a lot, especially since AP has a lot of nice stamps.

See another thread "Trains on Banknotes and Stamps" https://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11374500.htm

I buy most of my nice stamps from
* Philatelic Mail Order Bureau Replay Paid 91896 MELBOURNE VIC 8060
* Local Chemist who have a Licensed Post Office inside; Sell a small range of stamps and packaging materials. Deiivers medicines and stamps daily which overcomes COVID-19 lockouts.
* Officeworks - only one choice of $11.00 booklet of 10 stamps.
* auspost.com.au/stamps

APost produce a free bi-monthly magazine called "Stamp Bulletin" which features oncoming issues of new stamps. And doesn't AP produce a lot of difference commemorative stamps issues.

Fines, car registration, etc go by mail.
It'll be ages before online voting is robust or secure enough.
There will always be people that can't or won't use online.

Fines etc, for a country that is very successful at selling IT solutions globally in many sectors, Australian govts are seemingly some of the slowest uptakers of technology (correction, obviously there are options to go online, we pay our Qld boat rego online) Using the mail system is completely outdated approach. UAE, all fines sent via sms and you go into the app to pay and car cannot re-registered until all fines are cleared.

Voting agree, online will take some time to change, it is however used OS. This however doesn't require the mail system we have today to retain a paper system.

Within 2 decades (likely alot less) the only people not online options will be handicapped in some manner, mental or physical.  Anyone under the age of 60-65 should be computer literate or living with someone who is. Anyone under the age of 40-45 should be computer literate. As there are people in this group over the age of 70 who seemingly able to use a PC and string a few sentences together with some level of success, the % of population the mail system is catering for is shrinking rapidly. Regardless, while home delivered mail may cease within 10 years this doesn't prevent the retention of pickup from post office to continue for sometime.

You should try any of the New York state DMV's. Its like stepping back in time to a NSW MV Rego centre in the 1970's. We are light years ahead even in regard to banking where cheques are still used to pay workers.

You should try any of the New York state DMV's. Its like stepping back in time to a NSW MV Rego centre in the 1970's. We are light years ahead even in regard to banking where cheques are still used to pay workers.

True, I've heard its pretty basic.

UAE is at times ahead on many things as they want to be considered a developed country or getting there, but the cheque system is still there although since buying my villa I haven't written a cheque since. Most people just use them for rent as required by most landlords as most people may their rent just once or twice a year. The cheque system also has a long of legal grunt although they are pulling back from jailing everyone for a bounced cheque.  A few more years I suspect it will be gone.

Moral of the story is the govt sector seems to struggle with keeping up with technology and why privatization often deliverers more results than just bottom line.

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/coronavirus-australian-post-cuts-letter-delivery-to-every-second-day-due-to-covid19/cc444500-aff1-4b0a-bbdb-9a9811cc4d74

Australia Post has finally been able to reduce home letter deliveries to every 2nd day, I think they have been trying to implement this for a decade or more with the usual outrage to following. Now thanks to CV-19 it just happens without any fanfare.

Shane, the article you linked to is 5 months old, but we're still getting mail delivered 5 days a week.

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/coronavirus-australian-post-cuts-letter-delivery-to-every-second-day-due-to-covid19/cc444500-aff1-4b0a-bbdb-9a9811cc4d74

Australia Post has finally been able to reduce home letter deliveries to every 2nd day, I think they have been trying to implement this for a decade or more with the usual outrage to following. Now thanks to CV-19 it just happens without any fanfare.

Shane, the article you linked to is 5 months old, but we're still getting mail delivered 5 days a week.

Thanks Graham, didn't notice the date, thought it was recent. I suppose it may depend on a few factors on how fast they do this.

I absolutely don’t care, but today I got a card from AP saying ‘you may have heard about temporary changes taking place to your letter deliveries.’ ... ‘This means that soon letters to your address will be delivered every second working day rather than every working day until 30 June 2021.’

I actually don’t care at all, but they could at least be honest and tell us that this will be a permanent change, because we all know that come the next financial year the executive won’t reduce their bonuses in order to return us to an every working day delivery.

In short I am pretty sure they know they’re lying about the ‘temporary’ change, but let’s not question integrity they don’t have...

That aside I am somewhat offended/miffed that they chose today to supply me with this note, whilst FINALLY delivering me an item that was acknowledged as in Australia Post’s possession on 27/3/20 - IT’S TAKEN THEM 173 DAYS to get me a parcel handed to their team at Alexandrina in NSW to my address in Adelaide (CBD - 5000).

I calculated it, Australia Post’s delivery speed is about 330m/hr - and the ‘m’ ain’t for miles either.

F#CKING WOEFUL!

Its now 16 September,2020. And i am still waiting for the delivery of my Current Edition of RAILWAY DIGEST.

It is normally delivered within the first few days of the New Month.

But for it to take this long, All i can say is Its definately SNAIL MAIL, for it to take this long.

It could be  Today- or it could be another week. Knowbody knows, as i have contacted the Office to find out, if there was a delay,

And was told Its been Despatched.

Recently i had to send some Small Cards Overseas to Malaysia.  VIA AUSTRALIA POST.-  YES their EXPRESS POST SERVICE.

It was no Express Service.

From the time i posted it at Picton Post Office, til it arrived in Malaysia. It was 12 days.  And it happened on 2 Occasions.

So much for using a GREAT EXPRESS SERVICE  Provided by -AUSTRALIA POST.

I might be lucky to get my September Edition of RAILWAY DIGEST.  Just in time for the long weekend in October.

DAVE. of MENANGLE.N.S.W.

Its now 16 September,2020. And i am still waiting for the delivery of my Current Edition of RAILWAY DIGEST.

It is normally delivered within the first few days of the New Month.

But for it to take this long, All i can say is Its definately SNAIL MAIL, for it to take this long.

It could be  Today- or it could be another week. Knowbody knows, as i have contacted the Office to find out, if there was a delay,

And was told Its been Despatched.

Recently i had to send some Small Cards Overseas to Malaysia.  VIA AUSTRALIA POST.-  YES their EXPRESS POST SERVICE.

It was no Express Service.

From the time i posted it at Picton Post Office, til it arrived in Malaysia. It was 12 days.  And it happened on 2 Occasions.

So much for using a GREAT EXPRESS SERVICE  Provided by -AUSTRALIA POST.

I might be lucky to get my September Edition of RAILWAY DIGEST.  Just in time for the long weekend in October.

DAVE. of MENANGLE.N.S.W.

High speed service - a card, posted in Ulverstone Tasmania, on 2nd September has just arrived in today's mail. Australia Post is doing a fine impersonation of an arthritic echidna.

Dave, Australia Post currently inform me that they have suspended ‘express services’ after I queried the slackness in delivery of an ‘express’ item.

Use their online complaint form to caution them against advertising/charging for services they have no intention of providing. They will either refund you in full; or if they don’t, escalate to the postal ombudsman who will contact you and force them to refund you. I have had recent success through both actions.

I had to send something to Singapore express, it took three weeks from Adelaide. AP said ‘blame the post in Singapore’. Idiots, the parcel was tracked, it went from where I lodged it in Adelaide to the Adelaide distribution/sorting centre, to Sydney to Melbourne over two weeks, then it was scanned at Sydney airport - yes, Sydney, as an overseas parcel, departed that day and was marked as received in Singapore three days later.

Postal ombudsman got a full refund on that one - a sizeable amount as it was a 5000-6000g parcel.

Australia Post will also tell you the ‘compensation’ they can pay is limited by their policy to $100 (set in the 80s and never revised despite a caution for not doing so years ago from the ombudsman IIRC), BUT I simply told them I was seeking only $0 in ‘compensation’, and instead informing them they must ‘refund’ a service they charged for but did not supply.

Ordered some face masks on 28/8.
Australia Post first saw them at Oakleigh on 1/9 - IGOL (no trace of) until this morning when delivery is now promised today. We will now wait and see ................
Visa bill due Friday 18/9 - still not yet received in the mail.
Gas and electricity are a worry due to the large discounts to pay on time - still waiting for a gas account due on 6/9.

How do they get away with it?
Where is the Ombudsman?
Where is the Opposition?
Where is the media?

You lose discount because of a late arriving bill?  That's unfair.

Ordered some face masks on 28/8.
Visa bill due Friday 18/9 - still not yet received in the mail.
Gas and electricity are a worry due to the large discounts to pay on time - still waiting for a gas account due on 6/9.

You still receive bills in the mail?
Most banks and utilities charge extra for a paper bill here in NZ. Then we have only had 3 days per week mail for a few years now.