You've got mail... or maybe not

THE Alice Springs Post Office has been put in the firing line after a number of residents took to a social media site in anger over lost mail.

Colen Shaw, Anita Saes and Dave Rayment sort Christmas mail at the Alice Springs post office

THE Alice Springs Post Office has been put in the firing line after a number of residents took to a social media site in anger over lost, undelivered and delayed mail.

A total of 76 comments have been generated by locals on a post created by Mal Crowley on November 1, which also highlighted the company's inability to produce mandatory `You Have Mail' cards for unreceived goods.

Mr Crowley said, via the comments thread, that he had been experiencing difficulties with the company for quite some time, having lodged multiple complaints that had achieved no results.

``My new Plasma Cutter, which cost me a substantial amount of money, has gone missing between Perth and Alice Springs [which was] sent on October 18 and never to be seen again and now the company in Western Australia has to make a claim to get my money back.

``If you were to receive say a power or water bill or motor vehicle registration renewal for someone else in your box and it was not returned for a month then that person could end up driving an unregistered vehicle or have their power cut off as a result of not knowing that they had outstanding accounts.''

Another resident said he received up to 30 items addressed to another individual and took the matter to the Alice Springs Post Office where a manager advised it was his responsibility to erect signage to avoid confusion.

``I get lots of other people's mail which I put in a pile and once a month I take it [to the post office] so I again went in and sat with the delivery manager and laid out all the mail (about 30 items this time) and let him see that once again some of the addresses were nowhere near me,'' he said.

When contacted by the Centralian Advocate, Australia Post denied the accusations and said they hadn't received any complaints from the Alice Springs area.

A spokesperson said mail was being delivered correctly and any further matters should be directed to the company's customer service hotline.

``There have been no changes to mail delivery standards in Alice Springs [and] Australia Post consistently meets its Community Service Obligation by delivering 94 per cent of letters on time,'' a spokesperson said.

The Centralian Advocate will continue to provide updates on the situation.