STAMPBOARDS - Postage Stamp Chat Board and Stamp Forum

See http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-23/australia-posts-sortin ... il/6417106

Apparently the new $500 million machines are not reading and or misdirecting about 20 per cent of all parcels!

Yes, I saw this story on the ABC news last evening - not a good look is it.

Maybe they could have set the background music to 'ask the Leyland Brothers' as some parcels do seem to travel all over the countryside....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f8LBitthxk

Oh, and any overseas stampboarders wondering about the wet t-shirts, the show was broadcast in prime family viewing time back in the 1970's and 80's.....

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Sailing The Nullarbor with John Williamson

Me thinks it is making a third sailing between Melbourne and Perth.

Don't worry guys, the machinery is only mis sorting 39,000 parcels a day

Sounds like the Queensland Health Payroll System..

$500 million dollars on machines that can't sort ??? They are so technologically advanced that they are crap, what idiot designed them ? or were they more concerned about making money.....

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Still sailing the Nullarbor

Not just PARCELS being messed up -- letters too.

A good client in Adelaide is still waiting for TWO WEEKS on a small Registered envelope sent 2 weeks back.



Just a small thin C6 size envelope, with $1000s of stamps in it, and another I sent to him a few days later also with high value stamps, is ALSO totally lost in action -- also showing just the Castlecrag lodgement date on PO website.

Luckily I have dealt with him for years, and he knows when I say it has been sent, that is the reality - but boy if you were trying to tell a new client "I mailed them both weeks back" it would sound like a scam.

These delays I reported a month or so back from Chullora Mail Centre in Sydney, and they are getting worse -

https://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=61150

The $4 Million Dollar overpaid Flopperoo Mr Ahmed Fahour is trying to convince our dopey politicians that our wonderful mail service needs to increase from the current just hiked up 70c, to $1.50 to keep paying the insane wages of he and his fat cat buddies at the top.

He better focus FIRST, on getting letters between Sydney and Adelaide there in something less than TWO WEEKS .. and still counting.

More detail on that below, and contact your Senator to DEMAND that he is not allowed to con the Government into this outrageous money grab, to keep feathering his highly overpaid nest, and giving us worse service than any of his predecessors at many times the cost of that better service.

https://www.glenstephens.com/snapril15.html

As I have posted on several other threads the systems in place are only as good as the people using them. To summarise my experiences:

1. Registered item sent from Cheltenham to Aust Philatelic Bureau - never scanned off as received. Rang APB who confirmed receipt of my order & added we don't scan receipt of registered items.

2. Registered item sent from Ormond to Cheltenham took ten days ( I could walk the distance in a couple of hours). No explanation as to where it had been except perhaps mail bag hadn't been emptied properly & it was sitting in bottom of bag till it was used again & emptied properly.

3. Repeat Express Post items taking 5 to 10 business days when handed over the counter at Vermont South & sent to me at Cheltenham. Items didn't appear on system until received by me.

4. Postcards sent to kids at the same time at the same post office in Ballarat arrive 3 days apart in Blackburn. (One took 5 business days & the other 8 business days). I asked the complaints department at AP if he could explain the non-arrival to the child! He couldn't! And they want to charge $1.50 for next day delivery

However what is reported & shown above while is clearly not related to these shows that Australia Post has huge problems. The "Head Honcho" at AP needs to fix them or disappear into the sunset.

Brad

Greetings from Tasmania - same sort of thing but "somewhere in MELBOURNE" is the problem for me. Twice, recently.

(1) A4-sized packet left Fresh Meadows, New York on 21 Jan. The tracking info showed that it went via Flushing NY, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tokyo (Japan) arriving in Melbourne (they don't say where) on 31 Jan. Left 1 Feb 5:21am (quote: "your item departed a transfer airport in Melbourne Area, Melbourne, Australia on February 1, 2015 at 5:21am). The item is currently in transit to the destination"). It arrived in Launceston at 10am 12 Feb!!!!

(2) Small A4-sized packet left Denver (Colorado) on 6 April via Aurora (Co.) to Los Angeles and arriving in Melbourne (they don't say where) on 9 April ... so far, so good. Then: "Departed Melbourne on 10 April, 9:18am". The next entry on the tracking notice: "Processed through Sort Facility AUSTRALIA April 13 2015, 11:35am". Next entry: "Processed through Sort Facility MALAYSIA April 16 2015, 9:23am".

Next two entries: "Customs Clearance MALAYSIA April 16, 9:24am" and "Customs Clearance processing complete MALAYSIA April 16, 9:43pm". Next entry: "Item wrongly directed - item forwarded/redirected KUALA LUMPUR MALAYSIA April 16 2015, 9:52pm". Next entry: "Departed USPS Facility LOS ANGELES CA 90009 April 22 2015, 1:40pm".

Just as well I've got the tracking detail or I would be thinking the worst of the Ebay seller!!

This might explain why I am still waiting for a poster from Sydney since the beginning of March.

Just got mail

Control + will bring the size up if you can not read

BigSaint wrote:...perhaps mail bag hadn't been emptied properly & it was sitting in bottom of bag till it was used again & emptied properly.

Time was when it was standard practice to turn all mailbags inside-out when they were emptied (part of regulation orders)... then again, time was when all registered (and certified) items were put in special bag of their own with a manifest - and these bags were treated separately and specially. Now it all goes into the same bag and you takes your chances.

As for paying extra for Express post... I recently (a fortnight ago) sent two items, on a Friday, to the same address in South Australia. One was sent Express, and the other by normal post. Normal post arrived on Monday; Express item turned up on Wednesday. Go figure

I don't think I'm a Luddite, but surely if a little less money was paid to certain people at the top of the food chain, and more attention was paid to proper training for mail-handlers and machine operators, there is the slightest possibility this broken system could be mended?

I'm not asking for a return to the 19th century, or hand-cancelling (although that would be nice ); just a system which works.

On another, slightly off-topic note - has anyone else noticed the inks now being used in these new you-beaut machines wash off in water when you soak the stamps?

GUTTERS: don't get me started with that one!

In a letter to every householder and PO box-holder nationally in April 2015, that GUTTERS shows above, Mr Fahour cunningly did not mention his planned $1.50 letter rate in a figure, just whined that fewer normal letters were being mailed.

His previously announced plan is for a UK-like "First" Class and "Second" class service.

He said in the letter that his planned "Second" class letter mail would take two days longer to deliver than the current delivery timetable for letters". (However he plans to up the cost of even this heavily reduced service from the current 70c to $1 - cleverly not mentioned in his smooth PR letter.)

"You will be able to send mail at the current speed" - and also clearly did not say he plans that to cost $1.50 a letter - for the EXACT same speed service we have just seen our 60c rate go to 70c for recently.

All he said on price for letters - "we will be seeking to increase the price of stamps". No mention of the MASSIVE profitably of the parcels business and overseas mail business that he hikes rates up on several times a year, as he does not need Government approval to do.

Mr Fahour said in that letter "Australia has the cheapest basic stamp price in the developed world".

This is an outrageous and deliberate LIE, (unless he regards the USA as not being in the "developed world") and 5 million households have this lie jointly signed by him and John Stanhope Australia Post Chairman as evidence.

Americans can mail a First Class letter from Guam to Boston, or Florida to Alaska or Hawaii for 49c.

If any other massive business sent out unsolicited SPAM like this to every Australian home trumpeting such a knowing mistruth, the ACCC would have them in court, and fine them millions, for making deliberately Misleading Statements to Customers.

Worse still this is a GOVERNMENT owned business lying through their teeth in an attempt to ore than DOUBLE the cost of a letter.

Write to your Senator - this must be blocked in the Senate.

I was playing with a spreadsheet of "who has the cheapest domestic" post for "developed" countries and at the moment they seem fairly close.

NZ (80c) is only more expensive now that they have reached parity with the Aussie dollar, USA is cheaper (49c = 62c AUD), UK for 2nd class is pricey (54p = $1.04 with 1st 63p = $1.22)etc.

If it goes to $1.00 2nd and $1.50 1st, then we would be about the most expensive. It certainly seems to be copying the UK system.

Over 2 weeks to get from Sydney inner suburbs to Adelaide inner suburbs. A plane trip that takes just 90 minutes, and there are 20 flights a day.

This was a several $1000 order, in a small thin standard PO C6 envelope, and for my $5 Registered fee, there is a void of 2 weeks, with no tracking, and no movement data. Totally Unacceptable.

Client was starting to think my excuses were being made up. He wasted his time and got understandably anxious due to huge value inside, I wasted my time, and no refund from anyone I am sure. As these Yo Yos want to DOUBLE the cost to $1.50 plus Registered fee?

Another instance of the mailbag not being emptied properly???

Look on the bright side... it did get there - eventually.

mcgooley wrote:Another instance of the mailbag not being emptied properly???

Look on the bright side... it did get there - eventually.

And in this instance not a problem with the $500m parcel sorting machine but instead poor training of Post Office staff.

Further to my post of 28 Apr - my package from Colorado, USA via Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur and back to Los Angeles finally arrived this morning, badly bent around all corners but the contents were fine thanks to excellent packing by the Ebay sender.

Hi from Tasmania, again .... I haven't received my letter from the "$4-million-man" yet; maybe that's gone on a world trip too, like my parcel (above).

Here's another example of mail system craziness, parcel from Brisbane to Melbourne. It arrived in Melbourne on Monday which is fair enough but it then went up to Sydney then has finally found its way back to the same Mail Centre in Melbourne late this afternoon. Customer contacted me today wondering where it was. No wonder AP are losing money if they send parcels back and forth for no reason.

GYDAM wrote:Further to my post of 28 Apr - my package from Colorado, USA via Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur and back to Los Angeles finally arrived this morning

That little junket makes it look like poor performance by PO staff is endemic everywhere--the KL sorting office put your packet in a mailbag to LA instead of Oz. Or maybe its just a comedy of errors that the poor thing was mis-directed so many times.

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Still sailing The Nullarbor.
Left Perth 8 April 2015.
Now on the third crossing: from Perth to Melbourne and back.
Still not at its destination on May Day 2015

Noel, looks like AP is attempting some form of record for Nullarbor ping-pong Those $500m machines are obviously working...

So when AP quotes handling 12 million items a year, it is really the one item sent back and forth 12 million times?

Lies, damned lies and statistics....

Gordon wrote:So when AP quotes handling 12 million items a year, it is really the one item sent back and forth 12 million times?

Lies, damned lies and statistics....

Looks like the mail I have sitting in the Post Office in Qld that missed the redirect is safer just where it is.

Will ring them and request they hold it pending my return from ACT.

John G

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Sailing the Nullarbor is over

The parcel left Perth 8 April and after a few crossings I took delivery on 4 May in Melbourne.
That is the good news.

The bad news is that the autographed photograph of Sir Don Bradman from the late 1920s
is badly damaged because the glass in the frame has shattered shredding the old sepia photo.

So the saga continues

It must work in some cases. I purchased a Parcel lot from Glen on Tuesday of last week and it arrived yesterday. 6 days for a parcel from Sydney to beautiful downtown Lara is acceptable. (Although I did once get a box o' stuff from him in 3 days)

Norm

nightwatchman wrote:
The bad news is that the autographed photograph of Sir Don Bradman from the late 1920s is badly damaged because the glass in the frame has shattered shredding the old sepia photo.

That is appalling postal service Noel. What was approx value was the vintage Bradman photo?

Hope AP provide compensation.

Tassie_Stamps wrote:
Hope AP provide compensation.

The standard PO response is to deny any responsibility.

I can see them blaming the new parcel sorting machines

nightwatchman wrote:

Tassie_Stamps wrote:
Hope AP provide compensation.

The standard PO response is to deny any responsibility.

I can see them blaming the new parcel sorting machines

Noel

Sadly you will be correct. You will get the standard response that Australia Post does not offer a "fragile" service. I recall sometime back a counter staff member at Cheltenham giving me that answer & infuriating me.

So much so the postmaster intervened & Australia Post replaced the broken picture. Mine was replaceable yours is not. And for anyone who thinks Australia Post is careful with parcels think again.

They can be slid down chutes as much as 4 stories high, heavier parcels dropped on them & walked on by Aust Post Staff. Need I say any more

I hope you are severe on them given the whole saga a simple parcel delivery has been for you.

Brad

Shipping a sheet of glass via the mail is asking for trouble. It takes a great deal of care (and a lot of buffering), to properly pack a flat sheet of glass to go through the system, even in a frame.

And yes, after checking the website, AP do deny any responsibility for damage due to bad packaging. They could probably threaten the sender with endangering their own staff due to sharp objects and broken glass. You could have improved 500 million worth of machinery.


Can you approach a photo restorer to see if the image can be repaired.

Noel - I will run this in 'Stamp News' - it is appalling that their own stupidity sending it 15,000 miles needlessly, caused the issue and it is now "not their fault".

Not sure if you took a pic of the battered end product, but if you did, and not too painful, please add it up here, and I can use that.

Glen

Noel, in addition, it would also assist if you are able to describe the packaging - if there's no pictures available.

This raises interesting questions regarding APs handling of items clearly marked "fragile"... if this was the case in your own instance. Time was when AP did treat items so marked with some respect (e.g. there are many instances of bottles of wine travelling with AP quite safely), so I must ask if the sender's packaging was up to an acceptable standard ("acceptable" meaning the reasonable use of bubble-wrap and/or other methods of encasing glass to prevent breakage).

All of the above is notwithstanding the recognised fact that your item played ping-pong across the Nullarbor:

nightwatchman wrote:

Nor does it discount the fact that your item is just one of over 12 million items that AP handles every day.

I am not an AP apologist, but in most cases if an item is marked 'fragile', and due care is taken with the packaging, then AP does have proportionate rules of procedure in place - despite what most uninformed members of the service might say to the contrary.

I recently mailed a package, the contents were bubble wrapped and I marked in big capital letters on the front "FRAGILE HANDLE WITH CARE"

Well the PO staff advised me "no fragile parcel service exists" and "make sure your happy with how it's packed because there is no guarantee it won't arrive broken".

Straight off Australia Posts website:

"Packaging hints & tips
Make sure your item arrives safely

It is your responsibility to ensure your item is securely wrapped, with enough cushioning to prevent damage to the item, damage to postal equipment or other mail, or injury to people handling the item.

Please note: writing notices such as 'Fragile' or 'Handle with care' on your parcels are of no use once articles are no longer handled as individuals items are in mail bags or parcel cages.

So, if your item is fragile, perishable, crushable, oddly shaped, or sharp, you should take extra precautions. Liquid, liquefiable or powder articles should also be packed securely.

Tips for packing your item securely

All packed articles should withstand a drop of approximately 1 metre to prevent potential damage or breakage. You can buy padded bags and other packaging at any Post Office.


Fragile items (eg. glass)

Wrap each item in tissue paper or newspaper

Put them into an inner container and put the inner container into a corrugated cardboard outer container

Surround the inner container with cushioning material such as bubble wrap on the top, bottom and all sides to limit movement and protect the item

Close the outer container with reinforced tape"


Like I mentioned, you need to be extra careful. There is no such thing as a "Fragile" service today.

http://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/packaging-hints-and-tips.html

See, AP don't care about customers and no matter what you do, you will always be the one in the wrong because in subsection 7464382 clause 2, there is always going to be a little written AP policy you didn't follow.

A friend of mine paid for a Signature on Delivery label and extra cover, and the parcel he mailed has gone missing.

Australia Post advised him he was ineligible for compensation as the parcel was not missing, as it is still showing as being in transit. Gee, I didn't realise a small parcel sent from Hobart to Melbourne is meant to take over a month for delivery.

So don't pay for SoD or extra cover, it's a scam and they don't honour it.

If you are a business get your own transit insurance for valuable sendings and use that.

It may have been packaged ok to go across the Nullabour once, but it seems to have gone across it about 25 times. So if they didn't break it the first time, they kept doing it until they did

BigSaint wrote:It may have been packaged ok to go across the Nullabour once, but it seems to have gone across it about 25 times. So if they didn't break it the first time, they kept doing it until they did

Tassie_Stamps wrote:A friend of mine paid for a Signature on Delivery label and extra cover, and the parcel he mailed has gone missing.

Australia Post advised him he was ineligible for compensation as the parcel was not missing, as it is still showing as being in transit. Gee, I didn't realise a small parcel sent from Hobart to Melbourne is meant to take over a month for delivery.

So don't pay for SoD or extra cover, it's a scam and they don't honour it.

The post office will probably keep fobbing off your friend, saying "it's still in transit", until after a few months they'll say "it's too late to file a claim for compensation".

BigSaint wrote:
It may have been packaged ok to go across the Nullabour once, but it seems to have gone across it about 25 times.

So if they didn't break it the first time, they kept doing it until they did

Agree. They should INSTANTLY pay out on an instance like this, caused entirely due to their own stupidity.

Many $100s of damage they DIRECTLY caused. Moreover on an item impossible to replace.

Noel paid $395 and if the signature was verified, it was worth more like $1,500.

Lose a cellphone in the mail or 5/- Harbour Bridge stamp even, those can be replaced in a day. This type of unique signed piece cannot.

ANYONE jerked around like this needs full and complete compensation.

If the parcel was labelled 'not fragile' it would have arrived undamaged.....

The cheapest postage in the developed world is Malta at €0.26 for a standard letter, I believe that is about 40 cents Australian.

Mr Fahour should learn to read.

Tassie_Stamps wrote:

Hope AP provide compensation.

Sadly $100 maximum is all they usually stump up, for a lost or damaged Registered item. IF they agree it was in fact lost or damaged by them and that takes some proving often. In THIS case it seems they will not even do that.

AFTER you compete forms, and wait a while for the claim to grind through their often slow system. Which in this case is quite absurd. For overseas mail that can take months.

PO incompetence sending this packet across the country – 3,400 Kms each time, FIVE times, caused the damage to the glass, that much seems certain.

A Registered label today cost $3.70, and a letter stamp costs 70¢, (To be hiked to $1.50 in September, so a registered first class letter will be $3.70 plus $1.50 = $5.20 - maybe more if the Registered Fee increases too, as it has several times a year under Mr Fahoud’s AP Regime.
In 1966 when we changed to decimal currency, a letter rate stamp cost just 4¢ (I kid you not!) and the Registration Fee was 20¢, so a registered letter cost 24¢ to mail.

The 24¢ Azure Kingfisher stamp was issued in 1966 solely to cover the combined Registered and letter rate fee - few realise that, and it was widely used for that purpose.

The photo nearby is of a Registered envelope that shows the very top £50 or $100 compensation payable for loss or damage by the PO.

Indeed even in the pre-Decimal era, the exact same $100 figure was payable – OVER HALF A CENTURY back.

So 50 years back, we got $100 maximum compensation, and in 2015 it is STILL the same pointless $100, despite us paying TWENTY times more to buy that protection.

Collector Dealer Bodies like APTA and ANDA have 10,000s of Registered sendings a year from members, and these bodies via their paid Admin officers, should be bombarding the PO to overhaul this issue. In practice nothing is being done I gather.

If a dealer mails a 5/- Harbour Bridge, or £1 Kangaroo, or a medium value Banknote etc, sold at $1,500, we get back $100 MAXIMUM if either is lost or damaged, despite client being invoiced and paid at $1,500. The exact same figure as it was over 50 years ago. Crazy.

ALL readers here are urged to write or mail Mr Malcom Turnbull, the Federal Minister in charge of Posts, a savvy businessman, and insist his Department orders a fine-tune this service, and bring the compensation level 50 years forward, and reflect a $A2,000 top limit.

Remember this $2000 would be a MAXIMUM. You need to prove to the PO those goods were invoiced and sent, and lost or damaged, and in reality, the vast bulk of any claims paid will be a nominal sub $100 figure I am sure

Had the Compensation increased the same 20 times of Registered Post cost, the maximum today clearly would be more like $2,000, and such an amount would be applicable to Noel’s busted and ruined Bradman picture.

ALL dealers and collectors need to get proactive and lobby Australia Post, and/or the Minister, to massively up the Registered ceiling. It has not increased one cent for a half Century, but the cost of securing it has gone up 20 fold.

Mt Fahour pays himself a juicy $4.8 million a year (TEN times the Postmaster General of the USA) and I’d be interested to learn if he’d accept the same pay scale as the head of the PO got in 1965. That seems fair if he wants his clients to accept the same compensation level.

$100 maximum is an insult. If I mail even a Post Office year book for the past 10 years, they are EACH all retail well over $100! Indeed the current books costs $110 to buy from Australia Post - get that lost in the post, and you are out of pocket even if you DO Register it.

Global Administrator wrote:Indeed even in the pre-Decimal era, the exact same $100 figure was payable – OVER HALF A CENTURY back.

So 50 years back, we got $100 maximum compensation, and in 2015 it is STILL the same pointless $100, despite us paying TWENTY times more to buy that protection.

Insane. (Imagine that in Global Admin super-big font and bold red )

Hong Kong Post offers max. compensation of $320HKD...that's about $45USD...they say "that's the minimum the UPU requires"...so they don't bother doing more than the minimum. There is insured registered service--if the delivery country has an arrangement for such (and then you'll attract the attention of Customs). There is insurance offered by EMS--but the list of "excluded" items is a mile long, basically anything of value isn't covered. Not to mention as a courier service, the prices are hugely more than a registered letter (ie. cheapest to Canada is $200HKD, whereas a registered letter would be $19.2 or $22, the first couple weight steps; but, that $200 covers anything up to 500g--so send a book, or send a single stamp, its the same $200 ).

Princestamps wrote:The cheapest postage in the developed world is Malta at €0.26 for a standard letter, I believe that is about 40 cents Australian.

Hong Kong is HKD$1.70 (up from $1.40 last year, where it sat for about a decade), that's about AUD$0.27; Singapore is about the same...but in those cases, the territory covered is pretty small...as is Malta. Australia is a huge place to cover, and even though 70% of people are in the 5 biggest cities (rough figure), those cities are quite spread out. Canada is at $0.85 now...USPS has letters at 40-odd cents, and look at the massive debt they're facing.