Customers outraged after Australia Post fails to empty post box for 5 months
<p>Australia Post has been forced to apologise after outrage customers discovered their local post box had not been emptied in five months.</p>
<p>The box, located in Beechworth, Victoria, had not been opened since October 2017. When it was finally emptied, it was “full to the brim” with bills, letters, Christmas cards and even same-sex marriage survey responses.</p>
<p>The mistake was discovered by Beechworth’s Plumbing Plus after many customers with overdue bills complained they had never even received their invoices.</p>
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<p>“Beechworth’s Plumbing Plus wish to advise our account customers, who receive their invoices and statements by mail, that unfortunately we have discovered that the post box on Junction Rd, a few metres from our front door, had not been cleared since October,” owner Joanne Westra wrote.</p>
<p>“We had noticed that some of our customers had fallen behind in their payments. At the same time we had started to get an increasing number of customers saying that they had not received their monthly statements. It did take us 5 months of posting at Junction Rd to finally figure this out. We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience that this has caused.</p>
<p>“We are also concerned about other local people in the Junction Rd area who had posted items in this box as it was full to the brim with items including Christmas cards, bill payments, personal letters, etc.</p>
<p>“Australia Post have apologised to us for their mistake. Regular clearing of this box has now resumed.”</p>
<p>Westra told <a href="http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/5292117/the-post-box-to-nowhere-snail-mail-untouched-for-five-months/?cs=11" target="_blank"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The Border Mail</span></strong></em></a> that Australia Post had offered her compensation, but that it was unsatisfactory. “All I’ll say is $50 in compensation and two boxes of stamps isn’t much,” she said.</p>
<p>“We realised because we couldn’t fit our post in there anymore, it was filled to the brim.</p>
<p>“We’re also aware of Christmas cards, birthday cards and a large cheque an elderly man sent to pay for hay bales that was never received.”</p>
<p>A spokesperson for Australia Post said they apologise “wholeheartedly” for the error.</p>
<p>“We can confirm all mail has now been delivered with a letter of explanation and an apology.</p>
<p>“This is an isolated incident that occurred when the collection route was handed over to a different team.”</p>
