No mail and slow mail send Australia Post critics postal

AUSTRALIA POST may be back in the black financially, but no mail and slow mail remain the biggest source of consumer complaints.

Report card: Complaints about loss, delivery, and delay are the three most common issues concerning Australia Post, the report says. Picture: Josh Woning

AUSTRALIA POST may be back in the black financially, but the postal giant remains the second-most complained about entity under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

And no mail and slow mail are the two big issues still sending consumers postal.

The latest report from the ombudsman says while it has fielded less complaints than last year — (5113 in 2015-16, down nine per cent from 5613 in 2014-15) but still almost three times more than in 2006, when the Postal Industry Ombudsman was appointed.

“In general, the number of complaints has grown steadily since the PIO was established,” according to the report.

It comes after Australia Post reported a $36 million after-tax profit in 2016 — a dramatic return to the black after losses of $222 million last year.

Complaints about losses, delivery, and delay are the three most common issues concerning Australia Post, with loss and delivery accounting for 60 per cent of complaints raised with the Postal Industry Ombudsman.

Lost mail accounts for 30 per cent of the complains to the ombudsman, but that doesn’t mean letters and parcel disappear into the there forever.

“In these cases, the dispute typically arises because Australia Post believes it has correctly delivered an article, but the addressee claims it has not been received,” the ombudsman said.

Delivery issues (29 per cent of complaints) are mainly about failure to attempt delivery of parcels, incorrect safe drop procedures and failure to obtain a signature on delivery when required to do so.

Delays in delivery accounted for nine per cent of complaints.

And despite consumers railing in January this against rises in the price of stamps from 70c to $1 and the introduction of a two-tiered regular and priority delivery service, the PIO received only “a small number of complaints concerning the increase in the cost of the basic postal rate and the introduction of the two-speed mail,” the report noted.

It didn’t investigate those complaints because “the pricing decision had been reviewed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the two-speed mail service was supported by Government,” according the report.

But that number may change next report: on October 3, Australia Post began jacking up the cost of various parcels and international letters, and mail redirection, mail hold and unaddressed mail services, with price hikes of between 10c and $6.25.

Originally published as No mail and slow mail send Australia Post critics postal