Australia Post “continuing to exceed delivery performance targets”

Australia Post has released its year-to-date service performance levels, which it says demonstrate that the national letters and parcels network is “continuing to exceed delivery performance targets” – and also noted that its proposals to change its parcel pick-up procedures are “absolutely dependent on customer feedback”. In a statement issued on Friday (13 May), Australia Post said: “Since the two-speed letters system was introduced in January this year for consumer mail, we have continued to exceed the 94% on-time or early delivery standard set by the Federal Government. This standard has been exceeded every month and is consistent with the letters service performance for the last 15 years.

“The parcels network, which includes Australia Post and StarTrack, continues to deliver more than 94% of all parcels on-time or early. This follows a $2bn investment in our parcels network over the past four years which included expanding our Sydney and Melbourne facilities, effectively doubling the processing capacity at both sites and improving sorting efficiency.”

The statement then went on to deal with new developments: “In a move to further improve delivery performance, Australia Post also announced today two new trials for our parcel customers. We are trialling evening deliveries up until 9pm in some suburbs across the country – particularly in areas where we know our customers often work away from home.

“At the same time we are also trialling a second attempted delivery before leaving a collection card. This means our posties will revisit the address at the end of their round if the first delivery attempt was not successful.

“These trials, along with proposed changes to extend the time we hold parcels before returning to sender, are absolutely dependent on customer feedback. If customers do not want these new services we will not introduce them.”

The proposal to extend the time that parcels are held before being returned to sender has been a welcome move. But what has ruffled feathers is that Australia Post has also proposed – as the flipside of the new arrangement – to start charging fees for parcels that are collected after the specified time.

As previously reported, an online petition has been launched in opposition to the fee charges and the media response has been hostile.

Local media reports now suggest that Australia Post is set to abandon its plans to charge for late pick-ups, because the relatively small amount of money it could recoup from the fees would not justify the negative publicity.

Australia Post’s CEO Ahmed Fahour was quoted by the Herald Sun as saying last week: “The early information we’ve got is that 99.6% of all parcels are picked up within 10 days, the question is why bother for the other 0.4%. If customers don’t want it, we have to listen.”