Australia Post to axe “Sorry we missed you” cards for MyPost customers
Australia Post is removing ‘sorry we missed you’ cards, but only for individual MyPost customers.
Many of us have a story about it. A tale of woe that begins with that electric hit of serotonin when you click ‘buy’ on an online shopping cart.
Days pass and the anticipation for your shiny new item grows. For those working from home, you take comfort in the knowledge that you can’t miss it.
The delivery purgatory window passes, so you check the mail box just in case. You’ve been home the whole time so it’s probably just late. But when you open the metal flap, hinges squeaking slightly, you’re met with a familiar, and often unwelcome site. The crumpled note sits there, almost mocking you with its cheery red border.
‘Sorry we missed you!’
This utterly low-stakes, first-world problem has become something of a running joke amongst Australians. Inconsistent deliveries. Packages being sent straight to the post office, even when you watch the mailbox in a Rear Window type fashion.
While some of us get more technologically advanced versions of the ‘sorry we missed you’ card via text or email, the old-school paper versions still exist.
But that’s about to change for some customers.
‘Sorry we missed you’ cards are being removed for individual MyPost customers
A Victoria-based business recently published a post to its Instagram story, revealing that Australia Post will be removing these cards specifically for MyPost users.
The story included a screenshot of a partial email sent by Australia Post to some MyPost Business customers.
“We’re starting to remove handwritten ‘sorry we missed you’ cards — a change aimed to provide a better customer experience, reduce paper waste, and improve efficiency and convenience,” the email reads.
“From 26 June, parcel receivers who have registered with MyPost will be updated about their parcel with digital notifications. If we’ve attempted delivery but no one was home, we’ll let these customers know via email, the Australia Post app, or by SMS.”
For those unfamiliar, MyPost is an online account that allows you to personalise the postage experience a little more.
In addition to an app, you do things like track parcels, nominate someone else to collect them for you, ask for redirects and utilise the parcel lockers you may have seen dotted around.
But what’s important to note here is that individual MyPost users will be the only ones no longer receiving physical notification cards.
Australia Post has confirmed with SmartCompany that MyPost Business customers, as well as regular Aussies who don’t have a MyPost account, won’t be impacted by the change.
This means that people who don’t have regular access to a phone or email address, let alone an account with Australia Post, won’t need to worry about missing package notifications.
In the full email, which has been seen by SmartCompany, Australia Post goes into more detail about why it made the change, which primarily centered around streamlining and reducing delivery confusion.
“Our MyPost customers already receive digital notifications from us, which are more accurate and timely than our physical cards. Changing to digital notifications will remove duplication and potential for confusion between the details on the physical card, and the updated notification on their app or email,” the email said.
It went on to say that a customer will receive an attempted delivery notification with details around when and where they can collect a package, “ensuring their item is ready for them when they arrive”.
Australia Post also cited reduced paper usage as a reason for the change, and stated that cards would only not be sent for packages sent via Parcel Send, eParcel, or MyPost Business.
Why were business customers sent this email?
Australia Post is yet to make a formal announcement about this change, but it will come in the following weeks.
The organisation sent out a communication to its business customers ahead of the June 26 switch as it is required to give at least 30 days’ notice regarding changes that could impact customers.
There is also a page live on the Australia Post website detailing the changes and encouraging business customers to let their own customers know about the change, in case they need to update their contact details.
It also asks business customers to update their delivery messaging in case it mentions the physical cards.
Will Australia Post remove all physical cards eventually?
We certainly can’t predict the future, but it’s our understanding there are no plans for this at the present time. Regardless of Australia Post’s commitment to sustainability, there would likely be backlash if it went completely digital at this stage.
“We’ll observe customer feedback and then explore expanding this change to all customers who have their contact details on the manifest,” Australia Post says in its FAQs.
Even in this specific case, the removal of the physical ‘sorry we missed you’ card is only happening after a successful trial in Melbourne that tested aspects of the change such as ensuring the underlining tech could differentiate between regular and MyPost customers.
“Australia Post is always looking for new ways and innovations to improve our services to customers. We have recently conducted a trial involving MyPost deliveries and are currently working through the outcomes of that trial,” an Australia Post spokesperson said in an email to SmartCompany.
“Australia Post’s MyPost app and website offer the best possible parcel tracking for customers, along with other features such as the ability to redirect your parcel to a more convenient location, in real-time.”
Australia Post’s digital push
This digital push makes sense. In the latter half of 2022, Australia Post saw a meagre $23.6 million profit. In the 2021-22 financial year, it sat at just $55 million, which has been attributed to its parcel delivery.
With letters now accounting for less than 20% of its revenue and post offices costing $1.3 billion a year to operate, package delivery is the last remaining gravy train.
A federal discussion paper from March on postal service modernisation suggests that automation would be one way to save some cash. And Australia Post is certainly taking that onboard with the partial removal of physical cards.
But of course, the more things change the more they stay the same. The FAQs about the card removal ask a pertinent question, ‘How are you making sure a driver attempts delivery with a parcel before they provide a notification?’
Australia Post said that posties and drivers are required to knock three times and prove they attended an address via GPS tracking.
“The process for parcel delivery will remain exactly the same.”
For anyone who has ‘missed’ a delivery from home or watched an Australia Post delivery truck do a drive-by before receiving a ‘sorry’ text, that’s not entirely comforting.
