After the posting the original story, Australia Post Delivers, alerting Ringarooma Out and About and Australia Post the mailing mystery has only deepened. The situation, clear as mud, has been confirmed by Australia Post to be clearly murky as part of their obligation to provide a letter service reasonably accessible to all Australians on an equitable basis.
Warning: Residents of the delivery area of Branxholm are warned that the reported may be bad for mental health and raise blood pressure.
The feedback received to the article included talk of postboxes for residents of Branxholm. Not just the rural properties outside the Branxholm delivery area. A perusal of Australia Posts website uncovered that indeed there were ‘red posting boxes’. These were located on the other side of the bridge on Scott Street, at the location of the Branxholm Post Office that succumbed to progressive Vandals many years ago.
It was hypothesised that these posting boxes were the product of the relentless pursuit of productivity by the inscrutable mandarins guarding the community service obligations of the Postal Service, but these boxes were just another clever obfuscation by Australia Post.
The red posting boxes not only did not exist. They were a reference to a singular regular red post box, and that did not exist either, because it is located on Stoke Street along with the undocumented postal boxes.
To add to the conundrum one of the possessors of a Stoke Street postal box had received the phantom communication and was erecting a letter box on their property boundary to receive deliveries as per Australia Post’s instructions. They suggested talking to Scottsdale Post Office.
When approached Scottsdale Post Office wrung their hands. They regretted the situation and blamed it on their superiors. They claimed that the boxes would be removed in less than a month. Mail for the affected addresses would not be held for collection at the Post Office. It would be returned to sender unless it was redirected to a legitimate address.
To prevent this occurring a post office box could be purchased at Scottsdale. In compensation for the inconvenient debacle, as per standard conditions the purchase included a complementary redirection of mail for six months would apply. This would give the victim time to notify correspondents of their new address. After that Australia Post intends to pretend the property address no longer exists.
The impact of this transformation is unclear. Online shopping facilities might deny delivery to that address, contradicting that some couriers ( e.g. Global Express) do deliver parcels. There are also Australia Post’s own restrictions on what is deliverable e.g. no perishable items to a PO box. So particular retailers might not allow the PO box to be specified, even before you know whether the courier will be Australia Post or another service that is quite willing to deliver to the physical address which you are discouraged from using.
To compound matters it is believed there are legal restrictions that prevent the use of Postal Boxes for addresses for service of some documents.
As a substitute for providing a detailed explanation for something that was beyond their control or capability to suggest to their bosses that there were known problems, Scottsdale PO provided a copy of the offensive communication:
The unsigned letter confirmed that it was not written to the people most affected by the decision. It was written to residents (of the Branxholm delivery area) to whom Australia Post pledged their service to the community by demanding that they erect a letter box on their property boundary.
The consequences for those who did not receive the communication remained a dark and devious secret protecting the victims from the stress it might cause.
There are an unknown number of Scott St post box owners that received the letter. The others are obviously not residents within the Branxholm delivery area and by some perverted logic not eligible for equitable treatment under the community service obligations of Australia Post.
Meanwhile, back at the Australia Post website, a form was uncovered to request delivery to an address. This was done. The request noted all the addresses on Warrentinna Road between the Gardeners Cottage and Branxholm that could be included once they erected a maiIbox on their property boundary as demanded in the Launceston letter.
It is understood that other victims have vaingloriously undertaken similar protests. How the response period of 90 days fits with the imminent close in less than 30 days is for Australia Post to decide, but given they have yet to notify the removal of the post boxes, no-one has any expectations of the Australia Post’s diligent response other than to defend their decision through procrastination. This was confirmed by a prompt Australia Post response:
It would appear that Australia Post is clueless to the extreme. They don’t know how they deliver, what they communicate to the public or what assets they have. One can only wonder if there is any basis for their annual transparent reporting of their community service obligations, but that is another issue and the main focus is resolving the deliveries to Warrentinnna Road; so a polite reply gave the requested details and solicited this response:
Now the basis for this joyous decision to allow deliveries to the mansions at the Gardener’s Cottages is dubious. When purchased five years ago the advice was that there was no delivery to my address. There was no mail box in place and subscription to the postal boxes on Stoke Street was mandatory. Plus there is the minor problem given the contradictions and blatant incompetence to date.
On face value it would seem the Branxholm delivery area has magically expanded to include the Gardener’s Cottage without notification, and wasn’t provided a letter advising the need to erect a post box on the boundary, because it was not part of a further expansion of the delivery area due to the closure of the posting boxes.
So the purchase of an appropriate mailbox is contemplated. Perhaps it will have to be placed at the property entrance. If it is decided that C835, the road that connects Branxholm to Winneleah (where there is a Post Office!) is not within the community Australia Post is obligated to serve, perhaps the new letter box will have to be erected two kilometres down Warrentinna Road in the badlands ruled by roaming Vandals.
As all of the above is slightly ambiguous I wonder whether if I erect the foresaid letterbox; will I be compensated for the expense when Australia Post refuses to deliver to it, but in good faith I ask the practical question. Whom to notify once the mailbox was emplaced and request a clearer written confirmation of arrangements before I commence the purchase and installation on the property boundary.
Australia Post responds with a long word salad:
It was not clear why Australia Post facetiously is so “glad to assist further” when they seemed to be backtracking on their claim that delivery could be made to the address by simply installing a mail box on the property boundary? Also why they were requesting another request for delivery when they were responding to an existing request for delivery?
They were so told so. In response came a phone call from the Australia Post Contact Centre:
- yes, you are in the delivery area
- everyone on Warrentinna Road is in the delivery area
- the Stoke Street post boxes which we are not aware of must be your delivery address
- no, you can’t have delivery to your home because your address is considered remote
- we have not been informed about the removal of the boxes
- we need to talk to Launceston PO and whomever sent the letter you did not receive
- we will get back to you
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Research shows that a clear refusal by Australia Post to a referenced complaint is what the Commonwealth Ombudsman requires for contemplation that there might be a problem. The current incoherent mumblings of Australia Post and its agencies are probably insufficient, despite the impending disaster when the Stoke Street post boxes disappear.
Alternatively appeals can be made to the responsible ministers, or a petition can be made to the House of Representatives.
The Scottsdale Post Office expects a ‘final notice’ to be issued imminently. Given the previous resounding success of Australia Post in notifying the victims, it is deemed unlikely that any communication could successfully explain why there was no previous notice, justify the ridiculous timeframe and provide a coherent explanation of the options available to each and every victim of this callous treatment. After all, these remote and rural troublemakers who expect Australia Post to deliver are deliberately avoiding their responsibilities to deliver to themselves. They aren’t members of the community Australia Post is dedicated to serving. They are just some irritating fluff stuck in the netherworld between the conflicting definitions of a delivery area and a remote location.
This has lead to the thought. Could someone erect multiple letter boxes on their property? Where, in the same manner as a block of flats, Australia Post delivers mail to each apartment. Perhaps a resident of the delivery area could obtain the redundant post boxes from Australia Post and charge a lesser fee than Australia Post charges for the privilege of a PO Box at a post office further away? Or perhaps charge more, because the journey to Branxholm is a lot shorter than to Scottsdale.
Is this whole debacle all about money? Australia Post could make a gesture of community goodwill and bequest the condemned postboxes to the care and maintenance the victims rather or simply charge for the post boxes to finance the upkeep rather than conduct this surreptitious scheme just to finance underutilised capacity at Scottsdale at the expense of rural Branxholm. Is Scottsdale destined to become the next target for the hordes of roaming Vandals raping and pillaging the postal service?
– – –
The next communication from the contact centre announces that whomever is responsible at the Launceston Post Office could not be contacted to explain their actions, inactions and general failures to uphold the community service obligations of Australia Post.
What a surprise!
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