In the latest move from the once government run organization, Australia post has announced that it will charge customers up to $9 to hold their parcels at the post office.
Undelivered parcels are currently held at the post office for up to 10 days free of charge before being returned to the sender. But now, if the customers want their parcels to be held at the post office for longer, they will have to pay a fee.
These new changes come into effect from 1st of August, whereby, if a customer fails to collect the parcel within 5 days, he/she will have to pay $3 to pick up the parcel. An additional $3 charge applies for every week thereafter. Australia Post will hold the parcels for up to 30 days with a maximum fee of $9 to retrieve the parcel.
News.com.au has reported that Australia Post informed them in a statement that the idea behind this was to give the customers an opportunity to hold their parcels longer at the post office. The statement also said that Australia Post conducted an “extensive market research” before implementing the charges.
But, it’s not only the public and the customers that are outraged by these changes but the Australian Post staff itself is not happy. Many employees fear that they will become the target of customer anger. The public is already not happy with the increase in stamp prices and changes in delivery times made earlier this year.
Small business owners are not happy either. Many are concerned that they will lose business as the clients will be afraid to pay an extra fee to collect their parcels. Some are even considering to foot the bill themselves to keep their clients happy. Many have also warned that they will start using some other courier service if Australia Post keeps increasing its fee.
Another blunder that has come to light is that even though these recent changes don’t come into effect till august, some customers are already receiving emails and texts from Australia Post stating that they need to collect their parcel within five days to avoid extra charges.
The fee outrage also overshadowed Australia Post’s big PR announcement on Monday that its parcels subsidiary Startrack would use a new fleet of Qantas jets to deliver mail.
All this discontent has prompted calls for an investigation from Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
