Lost mail

Before contacting the PIO with your complaint, we ask that you pursue the matter as far as possible with the postal operator.

For the sender

Common reasons for articles not arriving at their destination include:

  • the item was not posted
  • the item was not addressed correctly, and the person at the address it went to did not return the item to sender
  • the item was incorrectly delivered and the person who received it did not put the item back into the mail stream.

For Australia Post, where an article can not be delivered, the item will be returned to sender or to the Mail Redistribution Centre (formerly known as the Dead Letter Office). Private Postal Operators also have procedures for processing undeliverable mail - this may vary between companies.

If a postal item has been incorrectly delivered or incorrectly addressed, and it was not returned to the mail stream, the addressee may report the mail as missing.

In investigating a complaint about lost mail, the PIO usually approaches the matter by asking whether the postal operator has done all it reasonably can to find the item. This may include a manual search or a combination of manual and electronic searches. Where it can be determined that the item was delivered to the wrong address, or given it to the wrong person, there may be an attempt to retrieve the item.

What is a 'reasonable' search may depend on the value of the item: not just monetary value, but whether the item can be replaced or not. There may be a point where we accept that a reasonable search has failed to locate the item. The question is then what compensation is payable under the operator's terms and conditions.

Australia Post cannot track normal mail through the mail stream. Therefore, it is usually not possible to initiate a search for an ordinary mail item that has not reached its destination, because of the large volume of mail handled daily and the number of different places that it could have become lost.

Items which have a barcode can be tracked to a certain extent, and can sometimes narrow the search for the lost item. Courier services generally have a track and trace system for all carried items and can usually provide a fairly accurate account of an item's location within the mail stream.

For the addressee

Generally, responsibility for inquiring about a lost mail item, and entitlement to compensation for it, will rest with the sender.

You may have received a notification card advising you of an attempted delivery. Sometimes, items cannot be found by the postal operator after the card has been left. This still counts as loss of the item, and the sender should usually make inquiries about. We would expect the postal operator to make inquiries on behalf of the addressee to see whether the item can be located for collection.

Australia Post has recently introduced a system where large parcels can be left in a safe place if they do not fit in a mail box. A card should be left in the mail box stating where the item is. Read any such card carefully to see whether you can locate the item referred to - it may not have been taken back to the post office.

As indicated above, if the article has been misdelivered or incorrectly addressed and the recipient has failed to return the item to the mail stream, it may not be possible to locate your item and the sender can apply for compensation.

To reduce the risk of delivery problems, double check that the delivery address you are supplying is correct.