Christmas happens the same time every year so why do people not prepare earlier

[Roverlord off road spares]

Every year this happens Christmas in on the 25th, some finish earlier, so why is that people not plan their repairs in advance, why do they always wait 1 or 2 days before departing on their holidays to service or repair and prepare the vehicles for the planned trip earlier? We have an angry interstate customer where he did not receive some parts today, We processed his order immediately and it was express posted same day, guaranteed next day delivery. It didn't arrive, Aus post blames hot weather. We did everything at our end and are let down by the delivery company, so it is all our fault , sloppy service . Heat Waves, Bush fires etc etc effect things but it is always the sellers fault for things beyond our control. The Postal and Courier system is in overload this time of year.

[16PMark]

I really do love the old Oz post argument about it being Xmas. Total FROFL!! Oh **** it's Xmas, how did that happen...
Wouldn't stress it Mario/Heather, your loyal customers get it. [emoji106]

[ATH]

Xmas does it every year, happens just when most are not expecting it. Just look at the madness in shops ..... or maybe I'm using the Cook as an example. :) Come to think of it I haven't bought her a pressie yet so I'd better dash off soon and get something, anything, or else. :(
AlanH.

[Slunnie]

He does realise that Auspost Overnight Express is a 7 day delivery service doesn't he? Guaranteed.

[Tombie]

He does realise that Auspost Overnight Express is a 7 day delivery service doesn't he? Guaranteed.

Not if you live here... then it’s guaranteed to arrive randomly between 2 days and 3 weeks

[4bee]

Sometimes it can be a bit crap for sure but I have ordered 12noon on one day & rcd goods apro11:00 the next & that was AP Express Post from NSW.
Other times it seems to be years, especially when urgently waiting for essential parts. If an order comes from HK or China then it seems quite ad hoc. I try to buy as little as possible from there if I can, but sometimes there seems to be no alternative.

Tracking can be a bit of a joke where stuff records never seem to move at all, & suddenly the PO is telling you to pick it up.

[V8Ian]

Every year this happens Christmas in on the 25th, some finish earlier, so why is that people not plan their repairs in advance, why do they always wait 1 or 2 days before departing on their holidays to service or repair and prepare the vehicles for the planned trip earlier? We have an angry interstate customer where he did not receive some parts today, We processed his order immediately and it was express posted same day, guaranteed next day delivery. It didn't arrive, Aus post blames hot weather. We did everything at our end and are let down by the delivery company, so it is all our fault , sloppy service . Heat Waves, Bush fires etc etc effect things but it is always the sellers fault for things beyond our control. The Postal and Courier system is in overload this time of year.
That makes a change, it's usually blamed on the delivery driver.
I once had to deliver two trailers of plasterboard to a school refurb in Mt Isa. I got the request for a quote, mid-morning. It was immediately accepted (I should have quoted more [bigwhistle]) and I was asked to pick it up straight away and express it t0 the Isa.
I had to prepare and set up two trailers, one dolly and a prime mover, before I could even start.
The trailers had to be loaded, secured, double tarped and ferried to Toowoomba singley, before assembling them as a road train. All done by 2am, then a short drive to Dalby for a shower and forty winks. Forty eight hours later I'm on site, to face a winging forman, for not being there at the crack of dawn the day after they gave me the job. Half a dozen plasterers had been twiddling their thumbs for a week, due to running out of board.
Logic would have dictated that they should have ordered the product 7-10 days earlier, instead of just before I first heard about the job.
One of the plasterers confided in me, that it had been ordered on that day, to gain an extra 30 days credit.
It then took them 90 days and a number of dire threats to get paid. To add insult to injury, they asked me for another quote months later.

[Stuck]

It's a year round thing here in Newcastle being this close to Sydney. Nobody keeps any thing on the shelf in quantity and everybody expects that it can be freighted from Sydney overnight. One good disruption (there's no such thing as a good disruption but you know what I mean) on the M1 and the whole thing falls in a heap.

[rovers4]

Doesn't need to be Christmas for a delay.

Daughter ordered some goods - small package, wrapped well, clearly marked, got it sent priority from Sydney to Tas. Tracking showed it picked up, flown to Melb, where it stayed for several days.
Meanwhile the day after her parcel was ordered, I ordered a part ex middle west of Syd, arrived here in Tas. next day. Daughter waited another four business days.

I think everyone is waiting for the pre-Christmas sales.

[Eevo]

its xmas?

[Arapiles]

Parcels posted from Japan to Melbourne used to arrive quicker than parcels posted from northern NSW to Melbourne

[Markf]

I well remember when I ordered a new head for the D2. Ordered Thursday and arrived at my doorstep Monday lunchtime.
At the same time my wife ordered a small item from Dandenong and it took a week despite it being express delivery. To be fair that wasn't Aust. Post though. We live in Moe so Dandy ain't that far...

And why oh why do people need to do 27 days worth of shopping just before the stupormarket closes on Christmas eve....???

[BradC]

\To add insult to injury, they asked me for another quote months later.

I love those ones. I have a check-box in my accounting system called "***** Tax". It automatically raises the rate by 250%. I've actually had one client request and accept the job on those rates and I was happy to do it. They were happy to pay the rate, and I was happy to perform the service with a smile.

They haven't come back, and I'm not upset so we all win.

***** the system changed my word for willy (starts with a pee and ends with 'ick'. It's important to explain as it has 5 letters and isn't quite considered as rude as those that only have 4 stars.

[spie]

its xmas?


It's beginning to look a lot like it...

[Saitch]

I know an ex Oz Post manager who worked a Christmas day, delivering parcels on the postie bike, so people got their pressies on time.

[Bigbjorn]

I love those ones. I have a check-box in my accounting system called "***** Tax". It automatically raises the rate by 250%. I've actually had one client request and accept the job on those rates and I was happy to do it. They were happy to pay the rate, and I was happy to perform the service with a smile.

They haven't come back, and I'm not upset so we all win.

***** the system changed my word for willy (starts with a pee and ends with 'ick'. It's important to explain as it has 5 letters and isn't quite considered as rude as those that only have 4 stars.

When quoting trucks and machinery to ****** and iceholes I would insert a line "NFRAA" in my figures. No f-ing reason at all.

[rick130]

I love those ones. I have a check-box in my accounting system called "***** Tax". It automatically raises the rate by 250%. I've actually had one client request and accept the job on those rates and I was happy to do it. They were happy to pay the rate, and I was happy to perform the service with a smile.

They haven't come back, and I'm not upset so we all win.

***** the system changed my word for willy (starts with a pee and ends with 'ick'. It's important to explain as it has 5 letters and isn't quite considered as rude as those that only have 4 stars.At a large company I worked for I instigated a 'Simon' tax for one site as the manager was an arse. (Get us the to draw up a spec, quote it, then shop it around. And we were the contracted contractor!)

The account manager and my boss thought it was hilarious and rolled with it

[4bee]

In my Quotes to 'certain' people I always added in a "Haggle Tax".


Like Ian would have said with his Gyprock load. "It costs when people who should know better **** you around" or he would have said that if he had thought of it.[smilebigeye]

[Slunnie]

At a large company I worked for I instigated a 'Simon' tax for one site as the manager was an arse. (Get us the to draw up a spec, quote it, then shop it around. And we were the contracted contractor!)

The account manager and my boss thought it was hilarious and rolled with it

Thats why my quotes were so expensive! :lol2:

[4bee]

Not if you live here... then it’s guaranteed to arrive randomly between 2 days and 3 weeks That is probably because AP use their owned Freight mob, Startrak or should that be Startrek or even Starstuck?


Bastards seem to drop everything at a Local PO 5km away where you have to go & collect it personally. WTF!


Thing is, they don't always advise you of this & you wait & wait & wait until you start to chase it up. They then come up with some ridiculous excuses based on the Driver's opinion. eg. Our Driveway leads down a well graded & gradual slope which many assorted vehicles have negotiated over the years from huge Semis to motor bikes. No dramas.

Suddenly the lazy bastard of a driver reports that it is "Dangerous &/ or inaccessible " probably because he needs to drive past a couple of Gum trees & thinks he is in the Outback & it isn't bituminised & he feels Isolated & lonely, when we are, 10km from the city centre.


Startrak,:rocket: you stink.

[Bigbjorn]

When quoting trucks and machinery to ****** and iceholes I would insert a line "NFRAA" in my figures. No f-ing reason at all.

Another that that too regularly appeared in my figures, particularly in the days of the Bjelke-Petersen governments, was "RF". Retirement Fund. This represents the amount allowed for bribes to senior staff in order to win the business.

[Roverlord off road spares]

As a whole Aus post express has been reliable and got stuff suprisingly fast to remote locations, interstate places like NT or WA and customers sing praises. But SA for some reason has glitches especially when it gets loaded on to the wrong truck and ends up in QLD first.

We don't use Eparcel as this is unreliable and takes too long. My Mate bought something from Dandenong retailer ( 20 mins away) sent by eparcel and is still waiting 10 days later.

[AndyG]

Xmas does it every year, happens just when most are not expecting it. Just look at the madness in shops ..... or maybe I'm using the Cook as an example. :) Come to think of it I haven't bought her a pressie yet so I'd better dash off soon and get something, anything, or else. :(
AlanH.

Get her something from Mario, plenty of time left

[Bigbjorn]

As a whole Aus post express has been reliable and got stuff suprisingly fast to remote locations, interstate places like NT or WA and customers sing praises. But SA for some reason has glitches especially when it gets loaded on to the wrong truck and ends up in QLD first.

We don't use Eparcel as this is unreliable and takes too long. My Mate bought something from Dandenong retailer ( 20 mins away) sent by eparcel and is still waiting 10 days later.

My WA customers consistently complained that parcels from the UK & USA arrived days before anything sent from the eastern states by Australia Post. Parcels from Singapore were overnight into Brisbane.

Try these for AP letter delivery.

Norman Park P.O. to Upper Mt. Gravatt - four days

Norman Park P.O. to Ferny Hills - six days

Cannon Hill P.O. to Manly West - three days

Manly West is two suburbs away from Cannon Hill and the Tingalpa Mail Centre is right in the middle.

In all these cases I could have walked there and hand delivered in a day.

[PhilipA]

I have to say that stuff I have ordered from Rovalord comes usually next day to Avoca Beach. To me this is almost supernatural.

I ordered a couple of hitch pins on Ebay from West Gosford close to me and they arrived on Tuesday after being ordered Saturday. The your parcel has been posted message arrived today!
Generally Startrack works really well to the Central Coast and the postie delivers small items, which I think is a relatively new thing. Our postie is a champion who brings mags up to the door if they don't fit in the letterbox.

Regards PhilipA

[4bee]

In all these cases I could have walked there and hand delivered in a day. Not to just those places either. I often say to their Reps something similar.

Someone is going to call my bluff one of these days when I will find, no, "I cannot walk from Sinney to Adelaide & back in two days" Head wind or Tail wind notwithstanding.[bigsad]

[ramblingboy42]

How come easter doesnt happen at the same time each year?

[JDNSW]

How come easter doesnt happen at the same time each year?

Because it depends on the relation between the phase of the moon, the day of the week, and the equinox. Since the Lunar month does not divide evenly into the calendar year, it keeps moving round.

(The Sunday following the ecclesiastical full moon that falls on or after the northern hemisphere vernal equinox. The ecclesiastical full moon is a calculation of the full moon that assumes the calendar used is exact, which it isn't)

[Roverlord off road spares]

Because it depends on the relation between the phase of the moon, the day of the week, and the equinox. Since the Lunar month does not divide evenly into the calendar year, it keeps moving round.

(The Sunday following the ecclesiastical full moon that falls on or after the northern hemisphere vernal equinox. The ecclesiastical full moon is a calculation of the full moon that assumes the calendar used is exact, which it isn't)

Also scientstts say that the Magnetic North is drifting toward Russia on it's way to polar reversal.

[Saulman1010]

its xmas?I worry about Eevo sometimes....

[Eevo]

I worry about Eevo sometimes....

not everyone cares about the birth of someone 2000 years ago.

[16PMark]

not everyone cares about the birth of someone 2000 years ago.Are you implying that actually happened.....
[emoji102][emoji41]

[rick130]

Thats why my quotes were so expensive! [emoji38]2:Bwahahahaha [emoji23]

[p38arover]

Not just Xmas - it was my wife’s birthday today and I forgot to get a present or flowers. Our local coffee shop and our air conditioning company remembered.

We’ve only been married 49.75 years, how am I supposed to remember these things?

[4bee]

Christ Ron you must be just about to go on your honeymoon then [biggrin], 62 for me so you can imagine the crap I get myself into each year. It ain't nice I can tell you 'er indoors saying "4 bee you inconsiderate bastard, You have had 60 + years to get used to it".[bigsad]

[Ferret]

We’ve only been married 49.75 years, how am I supposed to remember these things?

Since you know this to 2 decimal places I would say you're keeping a pretty close track on it.

[Tombie]

Are you implying that actually happened.....
[emoji102][emoji41]

Was the first recognised Tradie...

A Chippy no less....

As for his involvement in anything other than furniture making... well......

[p38arover]

Since you know this to 2 decimal places I would say you're keeping a pretty close track on it.

Well, I know we got married in March 1970 and is now Dec 2019 so I did a quick calculation.

[p38arover]

Christ Ron you must be just about to go on your honeymoon then [biggrin], 62 for me so you can imagine the crap I get myself into each year. It ain't nice I can tell you 'er indoors saying "4 bee you inconsiderate bastard, You have had 60 + years to get used to it".[bigsad]

Crikey! I thought we were doing well. Congratulations!

[4bee]

Thanks Ron.

Who mentioned "doing well"?[smilebigeye]


It has it's moments especially with two Virgos.[bigsad]

[V8Ian]

That is probably because AP use their owned Freight mob, Startrak or should that be Startrek or even Starstuck?


Bastards seem to drop everything at a Local PO 5km away where you have to go & collect it personally. WTF!


Thing is, they don't always advise you of this & you wait & wait & wait until you start to chase it up. They then come up with some ridiculous excuses based on the Driver's opinion. eg. Our Driveway leads down a well graded & gradual slope which many assorted vehicles have negotiated over the years from huge Semis to motor bikes. No dramas.

Suddenly the lazy bastard of a driver reports that it is "Dangerous &/ or inaccessible " probably because he needs to drive past a couple of Gum trees & thinks he is in the Outback & it isn't bituminised & he feels Isolated & lonely, when we are, 10km from the city centre.


Startrak,:rocket: you stink.
AP used to run a fleet of Looselybuilts.[wink11]
YouTube (https://youtu.be/JEfjRGVn7yc)

[Bigbjorn]

AP used to run a fleet of Looselybuilts.[wink11]
YouTube (https://youtu.be/JEfjRGVn7yc)

Now they have Volvo girls trucks. One of the Aulro gearjammers was driving one for a while.[bigwhistle]

[4bee]

Is that thing what is called a 22 wheeler, Ian?

That could have got down my road, remembering it was constructed for the olde timers to take the horses & wagons to market & they had to climb out fully loaded.

Like I said Startrak you are on the nose. Like a little Starfish crack.[biggrin]

[Eevo]

Are you implying that actually happened.....
[emoji102][emoji41]

do you know why jesus wasnt born in sydney?
they couldnt find three wise men from the eastern states.

[Bigbjorn]

do you know why jesus wasnt born in sydney?
they couldnt find three wise men from the eastern states.

And nary a virgin in the central and western areas.[bigwhistle]

[BradC]

And nary a virgin in the central and western areas.[bigwhistle]

Speaking of Western, Rockingham is the only suburb where the girls have a higher sperm count than the boys.

[Roverlord off road spares]

Speaking of Western, Rockingham is the only suburb where the girls have a higher sperm count than the boys.

hen must have a lot of Centrelink offices then also?

[John_D4]

Mario, is there any chance I could get a parcel before Christmas morning for a part that I won’t need for 3 months?

[goingbush]

OTOH ..... I ordered a Falcon tailpipe from Dandy Exhausts on eBay on Sunday , suggested Delivery time Jan 16- 23 ,
I don't need it for a few months but ordered it now incase I forgot about it . Blow me down its arrived at the door yesterday . How is that even possible !!

Similarily I ordered a full Dodge engine gasket set on Friday 13 , from DCM, Chicago , USA , it was delivered to my door Monday 16 .

[p38arover]

Not just Xmas - it was my wife’s birthday today and I forgot to get a present or flowers. Our local coffee shop and our air conditioning company remembered.

We’ve only been married 49.75 years, how am I supposed to remember these things?

I should remember the date - it was the date of the Apollo 8 launch. :)

[Roverlord off road spares]

Mario, is there any chance I could get a parcel before Christmas morning for a part that I won’t need for 3 months?

Ha Ha, ha, Believe it or not I have LOL

I've already had some one contact me who I have hinted I am not interested.

Even last Sunday some one rang me. They used to buy from me and I looked after them very well , the started abusing the privilege of picking stuff up on weekends , after hours etc , then would not turn up. I gave up my free time and was inconvenienced. No apologies were ever given. Then they went Elsewhere to buy their parts and on weekends they would contact me trying to get small stuff to finish their projects.. I got a call last Sunday, they bought a wrong part elsewhere and were desperate on the Sunday. Obviously they didn't have their regularly parts suppliers after hours home number to bother them instead of me.

Over many years I've given up my time over Christmas to help people when everything is shut, but you never see them again.

[rick130]

Over many years I've given up my time over Christmas to help people when everything is shut, but you never see them again.

Seen that more times than I can count!

I've been chasing a new potential contract, no decision has been made for near six months, then we got a call 7:30 Monday morning, their kitchen freezer room had broken down.
I rang my boss in Coffs and we were both on the same page, we guessed they couldn't get their normal blokes so rang us in desperation. This would be the only time we'd do this.
I was there in under half an hour, fixed it and said to the maintenance manager I felt a little used as he admitted they couldn't get their old contractor before Chrissie.

He rang yesterday, his boss has emailed through a signed contract to our head office.
So sometimes it works the other way, too!

[Bigbjorn]

Seen that more times than I can count!

I've been chasing a new potential contract, no decision has been made for near six months, then we got a call 7:30 Monday morning, their kitchen freezer room had broken down.
I rang my boss in Coffs and we were both on the same page, we guessed they couldn't get their normal blokes so rang us in desperation. This would be the only time we'd do this.
I was there in under half an hour, fixed it and said to the maintenance manager I felt a little used as he admitted they couldn't get their old contractor before Chrissie.

He rang yesterday, his boss has emailed through a signed contract to our head office.
So sometimes it works the other way, too!

I once worked for a mining and construction equipment company that shut completely for the full three weeks plus public holidays over Christmas-New Year. Reps cars and service utes handed in and locked up in the workshop and warehouse. Message on the telephone line saying our premises are shut down for the annual holidays and to call back after 8.30 on the --th of January. Reps got big earfuls of abuse from customers seeking parts for an annual shutdown overhaul or broken machine. The then service manager never answered his home 'phone himself. Wife or daughter answered and told client to call in office hours. He reckoned he was not paid overtime so would not work it.

[John_D4]

Ha Ha, ha, Believe it or not I have LOL

I've already had some one contact me who I have hinted I am not interested.

Even last Sunday some one rang me. They used to buy from me and I looked after them very well , the started abusing the privilege of picking stuff up on weekends , after hours etc , then would not turn up. I gave up my free time and was inconvenienced. No apologies were ever given. Then they went Elsewhere to buy their parts and on weekends they would contact me trying to get small stuff to finish their projects.. I got a call last Sunday, they bought a wrong part elsewhere and were desperate on the Sunday. Obviously they didn't have their regularly parts suppliers after hours home number to bother them instead of me.

Over many years I've given up my time over Christmas to help people when everything is shut, but you never see them again.

That’s cheeky. You do give good service Mario