'Shame on him': Australia Post customer complains of poor delivery attempt
A Melbourne man has lashed Australia Post for “poor service” after capturing a parcel delivery driver on CCTV outside his home.
John Fotias posted the CCTV footage to Facebook and it shows a man in a high-vis vest walking up to a mailbox on Wednesday last week.
He appears to be holding a collection reminder slip. He leaves it in the mailbox before walking away.
Mr Fotias claims the “driver could not be bothered to see if anyone was home”.
“He didn’t even have the parcel with him,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Shame on him.”
The video is 26 seconds long. It is not clear what the man did before or after the footage ends, and whether he did approach the front door of the home.
Poor access may restrict front-door deliveries
Australia Post told Yahoo Australia News its people "work hard to deliver mail and parcels safely and on time".
"Our posties and drivers should knock at the door three times and call out before leaving a card," a spokesperson said.
"Sometimes our people will leave a card without knocking because of access or safety issues and this could happen even when a customer is home."
If a home is difficult to access, due to excessive stairs or a steep driveway for example, contractors are permitted to make a roadside delivery only – amounting to leaving a collection card in the mailbox.
However, Mr Fotias told Yahoo News Australia he is adamant the Australia Post worker made no attempt to deliver his package and has a theory why.
"There's about 30 stairs to the front door," he said.
"I think that's probably what he [the delivery driver] saw — he didn't want to come up.
"He didn't have a parcel with him, so he had no intention of coming up."
Mr Fotias set up the CCTV to film the postie claiming it's happened twice before.
Some addresses are listed by Australia Post in a database as having long driveways or other obstacles which might prevent delivery to the front door.
People online share Australia Post frustrations
Others shared their own frustrations.
“That's just typical of Australia Post,” another man wrote.
“I was sitting in the lounge with the door open, next minute there was a postage card on the door saying ‘sorry we missed you please pick your package up from the post office after 4pm’.”
Another man wrote “it’s normal for Australia Post”.
There was a theory floated in February that Australia Post workers had a “10 second rule” before leaving behind delivery notices.
A woman based in North Lakes in Queensland shared in a Facebook group that she had "rushed down" after hearing a knock at the door, but by the time she arrived the postie was long gone and had left a card requiring her to pick up the parcel from a nearby Post Office.
Knock at the door three times, workers told
The alleged "10 second rule" did not sit well with many people in the group who said it didn't seem like enough time for anyone to get to their front door.
"10 seconds. That's a joke yeah?" one person asked.
Regardless, Australia Post debunked the theory.
"Our posties and drivers are instructed to knock at the door three times and call out before leaving a card or safe-dropping a parcel," an Australia Post spokesperson said.
They didn't specify a time limit though.
The spokesperson also explained the family dog may be the reason some customers never receive a knock on the door and are just left with a collection notice.
"Sometimes our people will leave a card without knocking because of access or safety issues – such as an off-leash dog – and this could happen even when a customer is home."
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