A small business owner says delays in delivering TNT/Fedex parcels to the region may be having serious impacts.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Others have detailed similar experiences but the company has since recommenced deliveries twice a week to the areas concerned.
Tarago district-based, Fiona McNeill owns Bent Shed Produce, a farm business that also sells Australian native herbs and spices at markets.
On November 3 she ordered non-perishable items and about 1000 pouches from Melbourne to package up the herbs and spices in readiness for one of her biggest sellers - the Canberra Handmade markets in early December.
She said parcel tracking showed these were sent on November 10 and arrived at the Goulburn TNT/Fedex depot on November 15 but were not delivered to her address, as she expected.
"Without them, things come to a crashing standstill as I need time to package up the pouches and label them," Ms McNeill said.
"When they hadn't arrived I rang TNT (on about November 21) and discovered they hadn't shifted past the Goulburn depot. Not having them delivered was extremely annoying."
Ms McNeill said if she hadn't pursued the matter and been able to drive to Goulburn and pick them up last week, the parcels would still be sitting in the Oxley Street depot. In between, there was no specific communication from Fedex/TNT.
In the past, they were either delivered to her door or the Tarago service centre.
The operators of the TNT/Fedex service declined comment. However it's understood that systems and processes are being addressed. Doble Express took over the service when it purchased Grangers Freight Lines in recent months.
When Mrs McNeill shared her experience on social media, others told similar stories. One woman said she spent 90 minutes searching the Oxley Street shed for a parcel that was "supposed to be delivered to Lake Bathurst weeks ago."
She also found many others that were addressed to Lake Bathurst, Tarago and Boro residents, including a "rotten fruit basket."
Mrs McNeill said when she visited the depot, staff were extremely helpful and polite. But she feared the delays could have had significant impacts, particularly close to Christmas.
"Making people wait six weeks before starting deliveries is not good enough," she said.
"The real question is how did this happen? How could they not know that they had to deliver to Tarago?...People use couriers because they are perceived as being more reliable than Australia Post. This is a long time to sit on people's parcels, especially perishable items."
The Goulburn Post understands that TNT/Fedex is now delivering parcels to the Tarago Service Centre two days a week.
Did you know the Goulburn Post is now offering breaking news alerts and a daily email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up below.
