The days of illegible “while you were out” slips from the postie will become a thing of the past under a bold new move from the national mail carrier.
Australia Post has indicated it’s shifting towards digital missed delivery cards after years of complaints from frustrated customers.
It made the announcement on its official Facebook account on Wednesday.
“More accurate information on missed deliveries? You ask. We deliver,” reads the post, along with a screenshot of an interaction between the account and a member of the public.
“The postie left a missed delivery card. That’s great,” writes Mike, “but I can’t read their handwriting so don’t know when it’ll be ready to collect.
“That’s not so great,” he writes, concluding by tagging Australia Post’s account.
“We hear you,” AusPost responded.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re shifting to digital missed delivery cards on the AusPost app, so you’ll have more accurate (and legible!) information.”
AusPost didn’t provide any further information about the rollout of the new missed package slip system and didn’t allow comments under the Facebook post.
But of 39 reactions to the post at the time of writing, four are an angry-face emoticon reaction.
An Australia Post spokesperson has clarified the digital notification system is being rolled out for customers with an account for the service’s online portal, My Post.
“Customers who don’t have a My Post account will continue to receive paper cards as usual,” the spokesperson said.
“The new digital notifications will reduce paper waste while providing customers with increased convenience, reliability and the flexibility to plan their parcel pick up when they’re away from home.”
It’s already been used in Western Australia since July.
Additionally, AusPost says at least 667 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year will be saved by making the switch — equivalent to saving 370 trees, or taking 234 cars off the road.
The post was shared on alternative social media platform Reddit under the r/Australia subreddit by user plasmoske.
“AusPost shifting to digital missed delivery cards,” they titled their submission. “So now they can send you missed delivery cards without even attending your address.”
Comments under the post told their own AusPost horror stories, including instances of posties leaving the missed delivery cards without even trying to see if anyone was home.