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Comment by IntemerateApe | Hacker News Reader

Aus post (australia post) is the worst, especially this time of year.

I have had that happen twice with Amazon (book) orders, they get lost, then only to arrive 2 months later (after Amazon has resent a replacement order)

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Aus post doesn't even bother to knock on your door. They just toss a card in the slot. Even if you see it happen and grab them, they'll probably tell you they don't even have the package; don't bother to actually transport them. None of them work for AusPost. In big cities like Melbourne, they're almost all contractors. In far off places like Emerald, it's all you got, because DHL doesn't deliver out there (or if they do, it's a lie and those packages get handed to an AusPost contractor anyway).

Cockatoo was a huge pain the ass to get anything delivered to.

I've caught them not delivering stuff before (opened the gate at 7am to go catch the train and an AusPost fella was just putting the card in our mailbox - those gates were very loud when they opened up + I was in the kitchen getting ready to go, so there's no way we missed them)and they didn't even apologise, just looked sheepish and got my parcel out of the van.

That said, the current AusPost delivery driver assigned to my neighborhood is a nice African (Sudanese?) chap who always at least tried to deliver stuff, will try and hide it from the street if it's marked safe to leave by the door, etc. and if you go to a post office they're usually pretty good.

If they treated delivery drivers like human beings I'm sure auspost's customer satisfaction would greatly increase

Characteristic story: postie piles 10,000 pieces of undelivered mail in his house. Nobody notices until he chucks some in the bin and a neighbor spots undelivered mail spilling out of a trash bag.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/australia-post-m...

I had a set of injectors sent from Sydney to Perth the other day, and they arrived in three days with Aus Post. They SMS'd me in the morning that they were being delivered, and let me specify whether to leave it at the door or collect from the post office.

They've definitely improved a lot in recent times.

The AusPost SMS thing is a bit weird. Sometimes it'll be "You didn't reply in time" even if you reply immediately, and from my message history it seems there's no acknowledgement if you do actually succeed.

I have to disagree. AusPost is pretty good. It's not perfect but given the stories you hear about USPS from the US, AusPost is undoubtedly doing a better job.

EDIT: I should've said "postage in the US", not USPS. My response was in relation to someone saying that it is "the worst". I've had much worse experiences with private shipping companies like StarTrack.

What stories? Most stories I hear about USPS are complaints about waiting in line. Otherwise USPS ranks pretty high, internationally, for quality of service.

In the Universal Postal Union’s report for 2018, US ranked #8. Australia ranked #26.

And it's not like the USPS lines are meaningfully longer than Fedex or UPS, even in a city.

I think it's just anti-government hyperbole to pretend that taking an envelope from your hand to a farm house on the other side of the country for 55 cents and having a line for such an amazing service is too big an ask.

It would take just as long at Fedex or UPS. They're private. They don't mail anything for 55 cents. They're usually more expensive for packages even.

It's really pretty amazing.

USPS definitely has/had a reputation, but your post made me realize, I haven't had any negative experiences with them in as long as I care to remember. If I had to complain, it's that sometimes packages say they're delivered a day before they actually arrive.

USPS is one of only two couriers I'll actually select if I get a choice. They put my packages in my mailbox (I realize others legally can't) or if it doesn't fit, they bring the packages to my door and knock. UPS is the other.

Other couriers place packages on my driveway, halfway down my stairs, or in other weird places. Occasionally one of them will actually come all the way down the stairs, but they won't knock.

I reported missing mail, and USPS was on the fix the very next morning.

Other than that, I've never had a problem except for waiting in line and being served by an intentionally slow employee.

I'm with you. Maybe I'm just lucky but I've never had AusPost go wrong and their local delivery staff are all really friendly.

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