Adventures with Australia Post

I left St Leonards Station at 9.20am, having come out from The Forum Medical Centre on Herbert Street. I walked down to the North Side Centralised Collection Point. I found out there was nowhere to cross the road so it was either walk back up to the Pacific Highway and cross at the lights or choose a spot that had a good visual of both sides of oncoming traffic. Unfortunately the facility is next door to Royal North Shore Hospital so there's a fair bit of traffic. If you come from the station I recommend you cross at the lights.

I arrived in front of the facility. What they don't tell you is that there is an entrance for cars and an entrance for pedestrians. I got halfway up the driveway before I met a sign telling me there was a pedestrian entry on the south side of the building.

Not having a working compass on me, I was confused because I thought the whole of the facility on Herbert Street IS south-facing if you take the Pacific Highway as a north-south road (turns out that particular part of the Pacific Highway goes east-west). Anyway, I wandered up Herbert Street (in the right direction, I discovered later) and couldn't find another entrance so followed the green line on the driveway into the facility.

Another thing they don't tell you is that it's another 200m into the facility to the window where you collect your parcel.

I must have had the worst luck this morning because at the doctor's I was after one of those patients that take an inordinately long time. You know how your consultation always seems to take five minutes but the one before you takes like, 20?

Anyway, I happened to be in line behind a bloke whose parcel they couldn't find (he ended up leaving his name and number because he had to go to work) and a girl who had moved and was trying to collect a parcel from her old address that they also couldn't find.

Eventually, it was my turn. There was a clipboard with a customer survey on it. Open clipboard! I wrote down exactly what I thought of this new service. Behind me are two ladies who are in a hurry and "don't have time" to fill in the survey, although by the time they wait for the guys to retrieve their parcels they probably could have. Both of them don't think it's a good idea to have this collection point and they both came in cars. One of them says she's afraid to do the survey because she'll only say bad things (lady, that's what surveys are for!).

I sign for my packages. "Where are you parked?" asks the retriever dude, obviously trying to be helpful. "Nowhere. I'm on foot," I reply. He looks uncomfortable, then I see the enormous box he has behind him. It's about 60 cm x 60cm x 50cm. "I'm guessing it's not that heavy," I say. "But this is exactly why I don't like this new system. I live 250 metres from Artarmon post office. I have to walk at least a kilometre to get this home today, even if I take the train."

He brings it out for me and I get him to put the big box on a chair so it's easy to lift. I open it up and distribute some of the contents into my backpack (which already contains my laptop and a litre of water). The rest goes in a reusable shopping bag and I end up carrying the Signature Scrabble set on its own.

I take the pedestrian path out of the facility. It isn't very well marked (they could have done with some big arrows from the driveway, for example) and looks like you're entering the parking lot, which is why I couldn't distinguish it earlier.

I decide instead of walking uphill to St Leonards Station and then uphill from Artarmon Station to my place (yes! uphill both ways!) I'll walk the gentle slope down from the facility to my place, which usually takes about 15 minutes but takes 20 because I'm encumbered.

I arrive home at 10.20am. That's an HOUR to collect the packages, without counting the first leg, the train trip from my place to St Leonards Station. Even on a bad day of bumbling the folks at Artarmon Post Office couldn't top that.

Thumbs down, Australia Post. Bring back local PO pickup and extend your hours a little.

The package deal

So I ordered some stuff off Catch of the Day last week and today received a delivery slip from Australia Post advising me that instead of picking up my packages from Artarmon Post Office, a mere 250m away (closer than the train station, which is 550m away), I am to go to the North Side Centralised Collection Point at St Leonards, more than a kilometre away, as they are trialling a collection point.

This makes sense on many levels. It cuts down on distributing undelivered parcels to each of the suburb's post offices as the driver has to return to the distro centre anyway. The Collection Point is also open 24 hours a day on weekdays and quite generous hours on weekends so it's convenient for parcel recipients too.

Sort of. For you see, I don't own a car.

When I worked full-time I had parcels delivered to work because my local post office (North Sydney at the time) wasn't open on weekends. And that was because I had an understanding workplace that tolerated that kind of thing.

Now, the reason I get my parcels delivered to me at home is because I work part-time and am more likely to be home than not when it is delivered. If I am not, then it's just a 5-min round trip to the local post office to collect it. Even I can handle big parcels for just 250m.

This Collection Point trial means I'm going to have to either walk or get on a train to St Leonards and then, package/s in arms, somehow get back home. It may not seem like much, but it's either 550m to Artarmon Station and then 500m from St Leonards Station to the Collection Point or a 1.1km direct walk and then back again. Either way I have to walk a kilometre carrying a package.

Mostly this is okay. I don't tend to order heavy and/or bulky items. But damned if I'm ordering wine again. And then there are those mysterious birthday packages which could be any size...

Australia Post, if you had been SMART, you would have asked customers what they wanted from your package delivery service to move uncollected parcels. I would have told you 'open the post office outside office hours one day a week'. It only takes opening until 6pm on a weekday or a few hours on a weekend to be more convenient.

*sigh*

I'll let you know how long it takes to collect my two parcels.

*** UPDATE HERE ***