Shock over letter's 30,000km world tour: 'I thought Australia Post was bad'

A Brit has shared their shock after a letter sent from a town just an hour away ended up going on a “world tour” to Australia. The UK resident said they got quite a surprise when they opened their “hospital appointment letter”, only to discover it had “somehow ended up at the Australian Border Force”.

Inside the envelope, along with the letter, was a notice from officials confirming it had been “opened for inspection” but nothing had been removed. A photo shows a large green sticker reading “opened by Australia Post for inspection by ABF” on the package.

“The funniest thing is that the sender is like an hour drive from me,” the Brit wrote on Reddit on Saturday. “I’m completely baffled at how it ended up doing a world tour for two weeks.”

“It's a hospital appointment letter, randomly. Makes the whole thing even stranger,” they explained.

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Aussies amused by letter's 'bit of a detour'

The social media post has attracted more than 4,000 likes in less than 24 hours, prompting one Aussie to declare “damn I thought Australia Post was bad”. “It looks like Royal Mail has them beat. That’s a bit of a detour,” they continued.

“The funniest thing to me… is that I can’t get a parcel sent within my city in Australia in two weeks currently, but you somehow got a letter from the UK, through Australian Customs, and back again?” another person commented about the 30,000km round trip.

Others also couldn’t help but see the humour in the situation. “When your post is having more adventures than you,” someone joked.

“It was probably stuck to another piece of mail. Funny!” another said.

Several people shared their own mail misadventures, including a postcard that travelled to the Philippines instead of Philadelphia in the US, and a box that took a detour to New Zealand on the way to Finland.

Last year, Yahoo News spoke to an Australia Post customer whose express parcel — which was meant to be delivered a short two-hour drive away in WA — went on a 12,000km journey across the country.

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