Some more on Australia Post...

My recent post on Australia Post certainly struck a chord with many readers...both here in Australia and overseas. It seems like many of us suffer poor service and pay high rates for it at that! And some of us have stories of mail going astray.
Not long after I published that post, Vireya sent me a link to a news service with an article about Australia Post. A report on salaries of AP Executives had been released publically despite opposition by AP hierarchy.

What a coincidence that I should write a post about AP ( and it's price hikes and poor service) at about the same time that details of the salary of the CEO of AP should have been made public.

Yep! The CEO receives a salary of $4.4 million plus a bonus of $1.2 million. He receives 10 times the salary of our Prime Minister and 119 times the salary of the postal workers...except those 5 executives of AP who receive $1.8 p/a. So there you go...and they said that AP is making losses and prices had to go up????

NannaChel commented that she could remember 2 postal deliveries per day Monday to Friday and one on Saturdays. And I can remember that too...but it seems so long ago. After reading Chel's comment I remembered an item that had belonged to DH's mother. I guess it's a family heirloom...and at present, DH is the 'keeper' of my MiL's treasures.

It is a postcard...

It is dated 1909...

The postcard was sent from Brisbane city to the suburb of Kangaroo Point...not a great distance, but then again in 1909 Brisbane wasn't very big and roads weren't the best.

The postcard was written by DH's great aunt, who at 16 years old worked in the city. She wrote the message to her mother in the morning and the card was delivered in the afternoon of the same day. yep! Same day! Great Aunt Ethel wanted to let her mother know that if she wasn't home by 8pm, she had gone to see a play.

Now in light of the present day era of phones, mobile phones and emails it may not sound impressive, but to me it was amazing!
Just a few more details about that 1909 postcard...the photo on the front is of the Toowoomba Hospital. Even though after Federation in 1901 and the setting up of the Post Master General's department to oversee postal and telegraph services, the stamp on the postcard is issued by the Queensland government. It wasn't until 1911 that the federal government issued stamps. In 1911, Aussies could send a letter anywhere in Australia for 1 penny.
So there we have a bit of history.

Australia Post...

From the subject line of this post, it sounds like I might be writing about our major postal service here in Australia. But it's not really an informative piece about how the service works...it's just some observations. And as well, I'll show off some items I have received recently in the post.

Last year Australia Post (A.P.) raised postal costs considerably as they asserted that the organisation had been making a loss. Stamps for a basic letter went from 70 c to $1. The dollar only gave you what was classed as second class mail service and if you wished your letter to be delivered faster, you could pay more (40 cents more) . So in essence, they upped the price but slowed the service. (We had never had classes of ordinary mail before, mind you!) Postage on parcels also went up in price and delivery dates were extended.
Over the years, I have had a few items of mail that have been sent to me, go astray and never turn up...and that was only mail that I was expecting. ( the latest missing letter was my 'all clear' letter from Breastscreen Q'land) Who know what else has never reached me??? And if the sender hasn't paid for insurance on the parcel or letter, AP's response was always, 'Too bad; we can't do anything'.

For a little while, a member of K4BN who lives in NSW, has posted parcels of yarn to me to hand on to other members. Rosanne posted me a big 5kg pack last September...it never arrived. For months Rosanne and I were 'hounding' AP, wanting to know where the parcel had gone. ( I had filed a disputed delivery complaint)
They seemed to take our complaints a lot more seriously than I've ever experienced before in my dealings with AP. I got text messages and screenshots of the data they had about the delivery...

Eventually one AP employee ringing from Sydney stated that the parcel was delivered to a #24 in my street. (the contractor said he left it on the front stairs). I don't live at #24 and my friend is adamant she put the correct number. However I knew something that obviously the contractor didn't know. Gleefully I informed the AP employee that there is no # 24 in my street...that number disappeared when 2 houses were demolished to build a big block of units. There are a number of scenarios for this but the main thing is that the parcel didn't arrive at my house.

But they made us wait another 6 weeks and last week Rosanne finally got some compensation for the lost parcel...although even that has a sting in the tail...they will only pay up to $50 if expensive insurance hasn't been taken out, and the contents were estimated by Rosanne to be at least $90 worth...but it was a small win.
So lately I've been a bit anxious when someone says they are sending me a parcel. Just like recently Sue from This n That blog sent me word that a parcel was on its way to me; it didn't go astray and I was thrilled when I opened it.

Sue sent me some of her hand painted cards and notelets...absolutely gorgeous!

And as I looked through all these lovely goodies, there was one that was extra special!

Sue had painted Eduardo, my cat. Isn't it wonderful!!!

To be absolutely fair to AP I couldn't write a post about them without mentioning that Seniors can apply for a MyPost card that enables them to purchase a set number of stamps per year ( up to 50) for 60 cents each instead of a dollar. (I think that there are a lot of 'baby boomers' and older people in Australia and we have the time to complain/hound officials etc.)

A few years ago I wrote a post about Rosanne and her New Year Resolution to visit as many Spotlight stores as possible throughout Australia. She planned to buy 2 balls of yarn in every one she visited. Hearing that she was coming to Brisbane, I had offered to meet her and take her to my local Spotlight. The photo below shows Rosanne on the left holding her purchases. The store manager came out to speak to us when she heard Rosanne was visiting the store. There had already been an article about Rosanne's quest published in the Spotlight magazine, so we were with a bit of a celebrity! lol

Rosanne, me, the store manager and another member of K4BN