Australia Post brings forward Christmas cut-off dates for WA and NT due to floods and rail disruption

Small businesses on the east coast are advising customers to get their orders in if they want to send gifts to friends and family in Western Australia, after Australia Post brought forward the cut-off date for deliveries to make it to the west and the Northern Territory in time for Christmas. 

On Thursday, Geelong-based small businesses Natural Supply Co and Nest Seven took to Instagram to advise their followers of the change, and encourage them to make any WA-bound purchases in the next week. 

This is because Australia Post has now nominated December 7 as the cut-off date for parcels to be delivered to WA and the NT, via the standard parcel post network. The cut-off date for parcels sent via express post is December 14. 

Similarly, the cut-off dates for parcels coming from WA to the east coast states have also been brought forward, with businesses needing to process parcels by December 5 or 6 if they are being sent to all east coast states. 

Australia Post advised that the change is necessary because “recent floods and rail network disruptions have caused delivery delays for items sent to and from Western Australia”.  

“Parcel Post items sent to Western Australia from the east coast of Australia may take up to an additional two weeks to be delivered, based on our current estimates,” Australia Post said on Wednesday. 

“Heavy rain and flooding have closed the Sydney-to-Perth rail line. The Melbourne-to-Adelaide rail link was closed due to damage caused by a train derailment and reopened on 21 November, however, delays are expected due to a backlog of freight.”

Geelong small businesses shared the news with their customers on Instagram on Thursday. Source: Private Media.

For all other states and territories, Australia Post has nominated December 12 as the cut-off date for customers sending parcels to arrive by December 25 if sent by parcel post, and December 19 for those sent express. 

For cards and letters, the deadline for interstate deliveries is December 15 and the deadline for deliveries within the same state is December 19. 

The change in customer cut-off dates for WA- and NT-bound parcels means the lodgement dates for small businesses processing those parcels have also moved forward. 

For WA deliveries originating from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, the business lodgement date is now December 8. If a parcel is being sent to WA from South Australia, the deadline is December 15.

For NT deliveries originating from Tasmania, the cut-off is December 7; for the ACT and WA, the cut-off is December 8; and for NSW, Victoria, Queensland and SA, the deadline is December 9. 

Australia Post says it is taking a number of steps to help address the delivery delays, including doubling its air freight capacity to meet increased demand for its Express Post service and delivering parcels on weekends in all metro capital cities and some regional cities and towns. 

The mail carrier is also running its One Team program again this year, which will see executives and office support staff help out on the frontlines by sorting parcels and letters, loading and unloading vans and working in Australia Post retail stores, The New Daily reports.

Australia Post says it delivered 52 million parcels during the peak Christmas shopping time in December 2021 and it is expecting the volumes to increase by 3% this time round.

More information about business lodgement dates is available on the Australia Post website here.