Australia Post to pause e-commerce parcel collections as 500 staff in isolation

With 500 Australia Post staff in self-isolation, the company has decided to temporarily pause Parcel Post collections from e-commerce retailers in New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory for three days from Saturday.

The pause, which will start at 7am on Saturday 4 September and last until 7am on Tuesday 7 September, will allow Australia Post to help manage record volumes in parts of the network to return them to a safe and manageable level.

“Australia Post currently has 500 people in necessary self-isolation, placing increased pressure on our network, while we also manage flight restrictions, temporary facility closures, and parcel volumes as high as our Christmas peak period,” Australia Post says.

“Only our standard Parcel Post service is impacted, with Express Post, Premium, Startrack Express and letters, to remain unchanged across our network. 

“There is no impact on Post Offices, which remain open for all usual business including collecting carded parcels.”

Items lodged at post offices and standard post boxes will also continue to be collected for processing and collections in all other states and territories remain the same.

“Deliveries will continue across the weekend and parcel processing continues, as our people deliver record amounts of parcels to Australians,” Australia Post says.

“We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience.”

Updated at 11.11am AEST on 2 September 2021.

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