Australia Post boycott: Why this Aussie grandmother drove her Christmas presents across Australia
A woman so fed up with the services of Australia Post has decided to deliver her grandchildren’s Christmas presents herself by driving across the country, after making a decision to boycott the postal service.
Mandy Hickman has relied on the delivery company for a long time, but after a bad experience that occurred recently, she has sworn off Australia Post completely.
A month prior, Mandy was anticipating a delivery from the US which contained important supplements and vitamins, but instead of receiving her parcel, she had gotten her hands on another one.
“A parcel came to my place, addressed to the wrong address. I opened it, then I got my glasses and realised it wasn’t my parcel,” Ms Hickman told A Current Affair.
After contacting the number on the package, she discovered that the intended recipient lived a few streets away.
The two women spoke on the phone, and the other woman confirmed that Ms Hickman’s parcel was delivered to her by accident, but when she went to exchange parcels, the woman took her own package but never gave Ms Hickman hers.
Photo: A Current Affair
Australia Post gave confirmation that the two parcels had been mixed up.
The addresses had the same home number, same suburb but different street names.
Australia Post has made five attempts to retrieve the parcel but has not been successful so far.
Ms Hickman has also asked the lady multiple times to hand over her parcel but has had no luck.
But despite the drama surrounding her package, Ms Hickman was more furious over the fact that Australia Post only offered to pay $50 compensation for goods that cost $650.
“You don’t get any compensation for what the goods are worth, what they actually cost and that’s not fair,” said Ms Hickman.
Now, after being so exasperated with the delivery service, Ms Hickman is ready to drive from Queensland to Victoria to deliver her grandchildren’s presents herself.
And turns out, she isn’t the only one who has complained.
Australia Post has proved to be so unreliable that A Current Affair is constantly being bombarded with emails about those who have been left empty handed due to the service.
One delivery driver was accused of throwing packages over the fence, squeezing oversized parcels through mail boxes and leaving packages that required signatures.
Australia Post has now decided to fully compensate Ms Hickman after being contacted by A Current Affair.
In a statement, they said:
“It is always disappointing in any instance when we fail to deliver for a customer. This year our hardworking posties and delivery drivers will deliver more than 3 billion parcels and letters effectively and on time, including millions of items in time for Christmas.
“We've spoken to both customers to express our disappointment in the way their complaints were handled and apologised. We're working with them on prompt resolutions, with full compensation being organised for the lost international parcel.
“On our busiest day this Christmas we will deliver close to 3 million parcels across the country and we've hired almost 3,000 additional workers to make sure this Christmas is a success.
“We encourage customers with any enquiries about their mail delivery to contact us on 13 POST or online."
Have you had any bad experiences with Australia Post? Let us know in the comments below.