Coronavirus impacts

Australia Post is currently experiencing delivery delays due to a high volume of parcels in their network.

From their website:

Delivery Delays

21 April 2020

There are delivery delays in our network due to:

  • reduction in air freight capacity and passenger flights (which also carry our parcels)
  • a significant increase in parcels that require manual sorting
  • health & safety measures at our facilities (such as social distancing through zoning, dedicated shift start times to reduce cross over of workers)

These delays can be up to a few days, particularly to regional and rural communities, and mean that:

  • Priority Mail services may be suspended
  • the delivery time for Perth and Brisbane may increase by up to five days
  • the delivery time for North Queensland may increase by up to seven days
  • the delivery times for Tasmania may increase by three days
  • Next Day Express Post Services into regional and rural communities may not be able to be maintained

What we're doing

  • moving more parcels through our road network (to accommodate domestic flight restrictions)
  • exploring all available transport alternatives and options, and working with the Australian Government, to minimise impacts for customers

In some cases, we're having to process and deliver from an alternate location and customers may notice when tracking their parcel, that it is coming from a different location to what they are used to.

Use our tracking tool to keep up to date with estimated delivery times.

Our people continue to work tirelessly under difficult circumstances, so we’re asking everyone to be kind and treat our dedicated people with the courtesy and respect they deserve – whether it be in a call centre, Post Office or dropping your delivery off.

Express Post guarantee temporarily suspended

17 April 2020

Effective 20 April 2020, we're temporarily suspending the Express Post guarantee of a refund and replacement envelope or satchel for articles that don’t meet the next business day delivery standard

Express Post is still available

Our Express Post service will continue to be our fastest postal delivery option for our customers – and we'll continue to prioritise these deliveries. They just may not be delivered next business day every time.

This change is due to delays to our delivery services caused by the ongoing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, including:

  • a significant increase in parcels that require manual sorting
  • social distancing measures in place at our facilities, which mean we can’t process items as quickly as usual
  • a significant reduction in the availability of passenger flights – which, in addition to our dedicated overnight airfreight network, also carry our parcels

The temporary removal of the Express Post guarantee is not intended to impact any rights that customers may have under the Australian Consumer Law.

Source: https://auspost.com.au/about-us/news-media/important-updates/coronavirus/coronavirus-domestic-updates