Definition of a postal or similar service
The Postal Industry Ombudsman can only investigate complaints that are about a 'postal or similar service'. Companies that provide these services include couriers and a packet or parcel carrying service.
There is no statutory or judicial definition of a 'postal or similar service'. We define it in the following way:
'The acceptance of a mail item, package or parcel for the purpose of delivery, at a cost, to a person or entity whose address is specified on the item'.
This is a broad definition, and we take a common sense approach to applying it in practice. Where a service does not fall within the popular conception of a 'postal or similar service' – for example, the delivery of a pallet of goods to a retail premises – we would consider that it falls outside the definition.
Any company that provides one or more of the following services can apply to register as a Private Postal Operator (PPO) under the Ombudsman Act:
- acceptance of mail items, packages or parcels for delivery as above
- the security of that mail, package or parcel
- the allocation and transport of that mail, package or parcel
- the retention of that mail, package or parcel for collection by the addressee, or the delivery to the specified address or to another address.
Unaddressed mail delivery companies
The PIO does not investigate the actions of businesses or individuals in providing general letterbox distribution of unaddressed advertising material.