Australia Post Essendon North Delivery Driver Saga Continues

I'm really not sure what I've done to this guy, but my problems continue, this story continues from the previous post...this post will mainly be images of where I live as the driver says he can't deliver to my residence as it's not accessible, I've sent Australia Post these pictures through their contact email address, alas no resolution yet...

http://www.darinallanblog.com/2014/12/essendon-north-australia-post-parcel.html

Recently I ordered some simple cabling and connector looms from Jaycar, small items, though they were in a larger than needed plastic envelope for protection, the packaging was fine, this time not only did I get carded (I was home all day BTW), the parcel wasn't left at my local Post Office (Essendon North) it was left at the Essendon Post Office near the Essendon train station! I had to visit both Post Offices as I admit I didn't read the card well enough as I immediately thought the parcel would of course be at my local post office. The people at my local Post Office are friggin useless, as soon as you mention you live in a unit, without even listening to you they cut you short and say well that's why it was carded, the drivers are not required to deliver to units...you try to explain that your unit is "on the street" just like any house and they just talk over you, wonderful people they are!

So here are some photos I took of the front of my unit, this is all still under investigation, it's only been about a week...

As even blind freddy can see the only fences are boundary and unit separation fences, there is no gate, no dog, no cat (we aren't allowed to have pets except for our feathered friends) I am genuinely at a loss as to what this guys problem is, the path is clear I am directly facing and "on McCulloch street", there is a primary school directly across the road from me you can see the "candy" school crossing posts, the street has to be clear for the Essendon North mothers to drop off their little darlings each day and pick them up at the end of the school day.

I get food deliveries from Woolworths Online and they have no issues with accessing my unit, they even occasionally and stupidly deliver the goods to my back door occasionally as the unit complex is all open, you can walk freely around the whole unit complex. The AusPost delivery driver though can't even access my front sliding door apparently, there was meant to be some person coming out from the main delivery centre for my area to view these access issues first hand...alas, if that did happen I have no idea, they certainly didn't knock on my door, I feel like I'm living in an alternate universe, where Australia post has there heads firmly up their arseholes.

I'm really not sure what my next move will be if they close this ticket, as when you go to the postal Ombudsman's website, all they do is link you to guess who? Australia post Customer feedback lmao, conflict of interest it seems not...alternate universe stuff right there lol.

Essendon North Australia Post Parcel Delivery Driver

I'll start off by saying that I actually like +Australia Post, though my most recent experiences with the Auspost Delivery Driver that services Essendon North is making me rethink my love for Auspost, as I'm disabled my preferred way of shopping is online, virtually the only way I shop these days, I even get most of my groceries home delivered, so I know what I'm doing and online shopping is the way of the future for me and many others that are in my position.

Now it's not just me complaining, apparently the *Essendon North LPO* (my local post office) is also making complaints, or at least more correctly complaining on behalf of the residents of Essendon North that need to ring them asking "where my parcel is". The New Driver regularly doesn't deliver to people's door he seems to prefer to just "card everything" which of course means a trip to the Essendon North Post Office. I pay for delivery, so why are my parcels not being delivered?

I've heard every possible reason:

"Oh you're in a Unit, the drivers won't deliver to units" here is a picture taken from the front looking directly at my place from the street McCulloch Street.

You can see the cream coloured dividing fence on the left there, well that is my little unit between that fence and the driveway on the right, it's just like a normal house in that faces the street I reside in, he does not need to drive in to the place he can just nudge his van into the driveway just like they do at any house they deliver to. Nope apparently that's to difficult for this moron!

I'm not sure if the driver has a sister but I can guarantee you I did not have sex with her as I have been celibate for about 12-15 years, so I'm at a loss as to why he discriminates against me, I'm also a Buddhist maybe he hates the "untouchables", the Dalits of India as they are often Buddhists, I might be on too something there, maybe he saw my Stone Buddha poster I have on my wall...

Oh the other excuse:

"It's Christmas, the drivers are very busy" I bet they are, though their workload doesn't seem to include me or my street or residence, my parcel was onboard for delivery on the 15-12-2014, it's now the 16-12-2014 3 minutes away from 12.00pm, I still don't have my parcel...it has not been carded, my security camera sees the letterboxes, he hasn't been seen today at all. If this idiot ever comes to my place I will nab a photo of him for all the world to see, yep I'm pissed off! For an atheist the Christmas excuse means nothing to me as I don't celebrate Xmas any more...what I'm waiting for is not a Christmas present!

"Am I going to let this go"? not on your nelly, if I don't fight this "non delivery trend" I will forever more need to go to the post office to pick up my parcels, I even asked for a PO Box, but they don't have any spare, so that's out. If the driver won't deliver to me what choice do I now have? None that I can see. On the same day my delivery was due, I had already received an item from another online shop in the Sydney area, they used Toll couriers and the item was here before 12.00pm yesterday, so the "busy" excuse is wearing a little thin right now, though this successful courier was from Toll not Auspost!

Even if by some chance the driver still delivers my parcel in that it's not lost, it's somewhere in the ether, does that mean my parcel was taken home with him and left in the van overnight, is this normal practice, if so why wasn't it taken back to the Local Post Office at Essendon North and carded, it's all very fishy, well actually it's not fishy at all, the driver is incompetent, I have absolutely no doubt of that at all, the guy is a moron plain and simple.

I've made complaints, one was closed with no action taken, I have now made a complaint via the Ombudsman which funnily enough they just redirect you do Australia Post customer service lmao, let's see how that goes, but I really won't be holding my breath as past experience does not bode well for any sort of outcome from Australia Post. I'll update with pictures and another story if I get any joy receiving my parcel, until then it would not be wise for me to order anything else online unless the postage is options include someone other than Auspost, lucky I'm not into Christmas...

When I first moved into this place I probably ordered something online the very first week and have been ordering stuff online for about two years now, the previous driver was excellent, was never carded, not once in that whole time, now all of a sudden the service has turned to crap, to the point where I won't be ordering online again if Auspost delivery is the only option they offer, which is a bugger as most online stores will offer Auspost delivery and maybe one other courier, with some they only have an Auspost delivery option, so I'm in for a rough ride to say the least. Thanks Auspost, lucky I don't give a shit about Christmas, if I did, you've totally fucked mine up lol!!!

Victorian State Election 2014 Essendon North Fred Ackerman Illegal Parking

I snapped these pictures on Election day, today 29-11-2014 I saw the Liberal Candidates vehicle illegally parked across a footpath and in front a "NO STANDING" at any time signs.

Fred Ackerman Liberal candidate for Essendon from behind parked in front of NO STANDING at any time signs!

Fred Ackerman's campaign vehicle

Fred Ackerman Liberal Candidate for Essendon parked on footpath, this is illegal in the city of Essendon!

Fred Ackerman Liberal candidate for Essendon, vehicle from the from the right hand side!

Victorian Election 2014

Bugger, bugger, bugger it's election time again, I despise elections, though I am a strong believer in compulsory voting, let's face it if we didn't have compulsory voting in Australia, hardly anyone would vote. I am so sick of politicians, lobbyists and right wing arseholes, Tony Abbott and the liebrals make me physically ill, that lip smacking, umming and ahhing, lying piece of shit sucked in the morons of Australia and the idiots are paying dearly for their stupidity, sucked in morons you lose. I am so sick of companies getting handouts while the ones who need it most are losing their entitlements bit by bit.

The liberals have no vision, no empathy and absolutely no brains, they lie and they're corrupt! Even Dennis Nap-time, doesn't want that nasty piece if shit Abbott to come to Victoria to campaign for the liars party, I suppose that's one good thing, but personally I hope big ears does come to town, Labor would win without a doubt, in a landslide as well. How do you know when a liberal is lying? Their mouths are open! It really is as simple as that! So the liars are totally out, no vote for you! Don't care who the candidate is, right wing liars equal vomit to me!

Now on to my Victorian Parliament Labor candidate, read on, yep I'm for the people, I'm a socialist, I'm disabled, you'd think I'd vote for my Labor Candidate, though I'm not too happy with them either, so I checked out my Lab Candidate dickhead and I have never heard of this numpty, wouldn't have a clue who he is, here are his brief details copied from the ABC website.

Danny Pearson
Australian Labor Party
Candidate for Essendon

Pearson worked for lobbying firm Hawker Brittan for 14 years in lobbying, issue management and government relations. He previously worked in the office of Steve Bracks. More recently Pearson has been Managing Director of Connect2Government, Australia's First Digital Lobbying Agency.

Ok that is just his brief bio, I dug a little deeper, not much because really I just can't be arsed, he's a lobbyist, strike one! I looked at his website, guess what, this moron only has a Farcebook page for his official website, don't use faceache, never will, too many idiots, morons and fools on that shithole his official website is on, strike two! Who the hell is he? strike three!

I have a disability I can't find anywhere that he mentions the disabled, you're out, that's the nail in your metaphorical coffin "Dunny Pearson" what a shame...if only you had more pride and gave a shit, I may just have voted for you...

I've never voted for the Greens, I voted for the liars when I was young and stupid, my parents are liebral voters so that's what I chose, that is until I realised just how disgusting the liars party really are. I feel like a change and as I said I am a believer in voting, between liberal and labor voting there was  probably a ten year avoidance where I never voted for any party, I managed to dodge the enrollers that come to the door for ten whole years, bliss, they was good years, but it was easy, I was always on the move, btw if they don't catch you before you decide to vote again, they don't fine you, bonus, there's a tip for the young angry people out there ;)

So the Greens, my candidate is Ashley Waite
http://greens.org.au/vic/candidates/essendon

Ashley Waite
Greens
Candidate for Essendon

I have a personal and political interest in progressive values and policies, with a strong interest in many key Green policies. I'm active within communities progressing disability rights, gender equality, and social justice. I strongly believe in an evidence-based approach to sustainable economic, environmental, and social policy.

I wouldn't have a clue who she is either, but she is female and every female apart from right wing liebrals of course, have a modicum of empathy, yep I actually believe that in a generalised kind of way. Ashley has her own piece of the Greens website, the Greens are on Google plus (the only social network I actually use) so that's a big bonus, of course most of these political parties really only post when they want your support around election times, but Ashley Waite seems the best out of a very bad bunch of morons in the Essendon electorate for the upcoming Victorian state election.

There are some other numpties, but who cares, they have absolutely no chance of winning anything or even getting close! What really pushed me over the edge to vote Greens and Ashley Waite was that she is the only one that mentioned the disabled, score! Let's be serious here Ashley probably has no chance of winning, it looks like Labor are going to win thanks to numpty Tones and Nap-Time, Dennis is boring it's time to go, good riddance dickhead!

So if Labor get's in without my vote for my Candidate, I'll be happy and if the Greens by some miracle won, I'd be happy as well and I'd be happy with my choice to vote for Ashley Waite, I have a feeling Ashley will do a great job supporting what she believes in, I am starting to like my formula for voting, it's selfish and it's socialist and it has a good vibe as far as disabilities go just the way I like my politics ;)

These are my opinions only, I'm absolutely sure I'm not alone, this is an opinion piece!

First time visit to Farmers Market

I have finally made it to my first city based Farmers Market and it's held only about 500 metres away from my home, it's only held once a month, but considering the area that I used to live never held a Farmers Market in the ten years I lived there, once a month is a wonderful occurrence and will do me just fine!

I wasn't really prepared as I only happened to see the banner at a local reserve a few days before the day coming back from the local IGA supermarket where I can buy Kale and a few other needed things if I'm short, like butter etc. I usually buy most of my food online and before I saw the farmers market banner I had already placed my order for the week. As my mode of transport is now a mobility scooter, I also hadn't organised the appropriate carry bag, the little front basket that comes with most scooters just doesn't cut it, so I will need to look into that for future markets.

I arrived on the scoot about 15 minutes before the official opening time, so I didn't get a true feel of what the market would be like buzzing with people, not all the stalls were fully set up yet either, my fault for getting there to early. I prefer it when less people are around, I get sick of the gawking from some fools while I ride the scoot, as I said I didn't really need much but thought I shouldn't pass up the chance to at least do my bit to support the market which was held at a local reserve just down the street from me.

The first stall was a plant nursery, I have been wanting to get a grevillea for the front area of my unit to be planted as a screening plant, possibly two, a couple of "Robyn Gordon" grevilleas would do fine, the fellow didn't bring any grevilleas with him this time so he said he would bring some to the next market in a month, that should be fine I'm not in any rush. The next stall was a guy selling Goat meat products, now I have tried quite a few different meats from different animals, I regularly eat Kangaroo, I have tried Crocodile, Buffalo, Camel and of course all the regulars, Lamb, Beef, Pork and of course Fish (I mainly eat Salmon for it's health properties). I'd never tried Goat though, so I took the opportunity to try some, I thought it best to start of with something I knew there was a good chance of liking, Goat Meat sausages and of course I got the rosemary and garlic variety.

The sausages were up there with the best I have had and I do like a good snag, always great when camping and great to have with any meal, we would often stop off at local butchers at the last town on the way to our campsite and support the locals and it would mean it was the freshest it could be, before heading into the bush for a week or so and ice in the esky only lasts so long. I also bought a nice fresh Cauliflower as well, usually I just buy frozen Cauliflower so I don't waste it, the one I bought was small just perfect for a single person and looked to be very fresh just picked and reasonably priced. so although I didn't buy much I will be prepared next time and purchase a lot more, can't wait for the next one :)

The name of the business that made the sausages is "Seven Hills" in Tallarook just up the Hume Highway a bit, great little town Tallarook, I will include a link to their web site below

Seven Hills, Tallarook
The Paddock to Plate Experience
Click here to go to Seven Hills Tallarook Home Page

I'll also add the Farmers Market organisers web site as well so you can see if there is a Market happening near you!

Regional Farmers Markets
This is the one I went to on the 2013-06-08
Click here to go to Regional Farmers Markets Home Page
Below is where the Essendon Farmers Market was held

View Larger Map
There is another mob that runs Farmers Markets, so when/if I get to visit that one I'll write a bit of a review on that one as well, all in all this one was great and I will be visiting it in the future for sure!