Couple receives $3000 from Aus Post for botched deliveries
Australia Post has been forced to pay out over $3000 to a Melbourne couple after drivers repeatedly failed to deliver parcels to their home for over a year during the pandemic.
Wayne Short and Veronica Libson took the postal giant to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in December to seek compensation, claiming that Australia Post failed to deliver parcels to their home and continued sending them to the local post office instead.
Mr Short said some of the parcels contained important items such as medication for their daughter, who is waiting for a liver transplant, and other contained goods for their hire party business.
He told the tribunal that the issues began in 2019, when the couple started experiencing difficulties getting parcels delivered to their home.
Despite filing a complaint directly to Australia Post at the time, it was not responded to.
Then in March 2020, the couple were undertaking renovations on their stairs and Mr Short said delivery drivers couldn’t safely deliver parcels for a week.
However, after the renovations were completed the parcels were still not delivered, with the driver claiming they were still unsafe to climb.
After this, Australia Post drivers stopped delivering parcels altogether, instead sending SMS messages to the couple to pick up their parcels at the post office.
In June of the same year, the couple filed a second complaint, this time to the local post office. The manager reassured Mr Short that the issue would be sorted out.
A few days later, a heated argument erupted between Mr Short and a delivery driver at the couple’s home.
When the driver handed over the parcel, Mr Short then told the driver they were tired of tracking down all their other parcels. The driver responded by taking back the parcel and telling Mr Short they could “go pick up their own parcels”.
According to the tribunal, Mr Short lost his temper, grabbing the parcel abc and telling the driver to “get the f**k off his property”.
After the incident, all deliveries apart from their normal mail ceased.
As for how the compensation was calculated based on how long it took the couple to collect their parcels.
Having found that they spend around 30 minutes travelling to the post office every week between June 2020 and December 2021, VCAT member Neil Campbell calculated the compensation of $3100.
He said the tribunal found the deliveries were “not undertaken with due care and skill” as they were “not delivered to the residential address” and there was “no basis for them not to be”.
In a statement shared with 7News.com.au, a spokesperson for Australia Post said the company respected the tribunal’s decision.
“Australia Post respects the decision of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and can confirm that parcel delivery has recommenced to the address,” they said.
Image: @auspost (Instagram)