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Thread: Mail theft - what are our rights?

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    Default Mail theft - what are our rights?

    Noticed we've not been receiving various items in the mail / delivered by courier at our semi-rural property.
    In the last 12 months, two eBay items, one Amazon order of books and one order of local goods delivered by courier were never received - tracking on each shows they were delivered / "left in a safe place" (without signature) and we have made enquiries each time to no avail. It's the same answer each time: "tracking shows it was delivered - your problem, not ours."

    So just what are our rights when it comes to deliveries that are tracked 'to be left in a safe place' that never arrive?
    Thinking we might have to get a PO Box and have everything sent there from now on. Would pay for itself in 6 months at this rate.

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    Perhaps try higher up the chain, and also contact the Police.
    I had similar happening a few years ago and the cops discovered it was a frootloop neighbour with a mail fetish who'd been pinching everyone in the block's mail and parcels.

    Aus Post in QLD are required to photograph the parcel in the safe place with a GPS connected scanner, and as far as I know if that's not possible a card is supposed to be left for the item's collection from the nearest PO instead.
    If there was no written permission given to Aus Post from a customer authorising the safe drop location then it had to be carded for collection.
    Not sure how many actually do that though, and couriers might have different rules.

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    First thing I'd be doing is putting the word out around town asking if anyone else has had the same problem. If you find a few people have, I'd next look for a common link with the courier company. Do you have those postal lockers in your town? I believe you can have stuff dropped off to them rather than delivered home and they are free. Not sure how they work exactly so you'd have to find out. Maybe you could have stuff just held at the PO for you? Fking couriers round here are infamous for pre filling the sorry you weren't home card and taking stuff back.

    Might also be able to organise something along the lines of don't leave anything without a signature.

    I would also be going to my CC company and getting a charge back. They are pretty good with siding with the card holder.
    Anything I didn't get I would be making the Sellers problem and not let them cop out like that.
    Here anything left usualy has a pic of it taken on the front verandah and I get an email from oz post. Only see the pic if you challenge it. If you got it you don't care about the picture.

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    It actually depends on the delivery service and type of mail ; OP is right in the middle of two different premises ...(and it's not all that clear on the AFP website either) ..but it kinda pans out like this...

    If mail is going missing and AustPost is the carrier, you report it to them...the hinge point is whether the mail fails to be delivered, or is stolen after it's been delivered - in the latter case, you report it to local police
    If a courier company is the carrier and stuff goes missing, you report that to your local police -- this is regardless of whether it fails to be delivered or is stolen after delivery
    If the mail is Commonwealth mail, that's a matter for the Federal Police
    If someone signs for mail and forges the signature/identity of the intended recipient, that's a federal crime pertaining to fraud



    Just to flesh out that ebay experience touched upon (this should be fodder for the ebay sellers thread =) ... what you'll find, is that you've inadvertently agreed to 'FREE Standard Postage' without appreciating what 'standard postage' means.

    Goes like this... you think you're buying off a 'seller' (individual person), but invariably you're not - you're buying from one of up to 1000 'drop-shippers' all working for the same company. That company, negotiates a delivery contract with austpost/startrack to try and get the lowest postage rate possible for their goods, Australia wide. Things on the negotiating table that can be trimmed as unnecessary 'fat', are those additional services Austpost offer...like... leaving a card in the letterbox to tell you to come pick it up, holding a parcel at the local PO for up to 30days (if you've got a PO box). This is why many of such seller won't send to PO boxes ; it's a breach of their negotiated contract, they're not paying austpost to do that. Likewise, this is -why- things get delivered, signed off as delivered, with the notation 'left in a safe place' ; that's all they're paying for as part of their 'standard postage' contract. I often speculated that when your saw ebay sellers with 'free standard postage' and then clicked on details and say express postage quoted at $999.95 ...to get it there 3 days sooner ... lent itself to more than a clue ; that might be their per item penalty rate, if that don't use the standard postage method already negotiated.

    Everyone should read the AustPost T&Cs regarding their liabilities and recourse (you agree to by using their service), when it comes to mail items genuinely lost or that go missing .. look under 'Delivery Issues' ->
    Last edited by wotnot; 27-03-20 at 08:14 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mitaux8030 View Post
    Noticed we've not been receiving various items in the mail / delivered by courier at our semi-rural property.
    In the last 12 months, two eBay items, one Amazon order of books and one order of local goods delivered by courier were never received - tracking on each shows they were delivered / "left in a safe place" (without signature) and we have made enquiries each time to no avail. It's the same answer each time: "tracking shows it was delivered - your problem, not ours."

    So just what are our rights when it comes to deliveries that are tracked 'to be left in a safe place' that never arrive?
    Thinking we might have to get a PO Box and have everything sent there from now on. Would pay for itself in 6 months at this rate.
    You have not provided a safe place, so you have no rights.

    I suggest their Parcel Collect service. Items are sent to a Post Office of your choice, which becomes the delivery address but in your name. I use it. It is free:

    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 27-03-20 at 09:32 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uncle Fester View Post
    You have not provided a safe place, so you have no rights.
    Au contraire, we do have a largish roadside letterbox. What would be the definition of 'safe place' anyway? I could provide a locked 5mm steel plate box (like I do at work... which the couriers hate to use, even though they have a key and signed authority to leave) but that won't be 'safe' from anyone with bolt cutters or a gas axe.

    The parcel collect service sounds perfect, thanks for sharing that.

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    version 2.0 is even better.






    I'm trying not to laugh, but I just realised I've got enough cheap disposable tech to do a non video version of this with hte police radio and voice warnings.
    But a lora GPS would be a cool addition.
    Last edited by trash; 29-03-20 at 02:36 PM.
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