Ever tried keeping three children under the age of three quiet in a 40-minute queue at the post office?
Holly Pender has. And the experience is one she would rather forget.
"I do almost all my shopping online because it is so difficult for me to get out. The whole purpose is that I get deliveries straight to my house."
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Ahmed Fahour's shock Australia Post resignation
Mr Fahour surprisingly announced on Wednesday that he would resign just weeks after the revelation of his $5.6 million salary caused a national furore and drew the ire of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
And yet the mother of three from Merrylands says she still has to head to Australia Post to pick up about 80 per cent of the five to 10 packages her household receives each week.
"It has become more common that the delivery guy just drops off a mail card, even though someone is home," Ms Pender said.
"I always opt for the parcel to be safe dropped and I put special instructions to 'please leave at the door', but that doesn't happen."
When an addressee is left a card requesting collection of a parcel at a post office, the process is called "carding".
The intention is that such cards are left when nobody is home to receive a parcel.
However, Mrs Pender's gripe is that cards are regularly left without a knock at the door or even when she gives permission for a parcel to be left unattended.
Mrs Pender said that when she used Australia Post's customer feedback call service recently, "they were completely defensive", and "had no real interest in hearing from a customer".
In 2008, the Postal Industry Ombudsman conducted an investigation into the use of notification cards by Australia Post, after an increase in carding-related complaints.
After the investigation, Australia Post introduced its Safe Drop program, enabling customers to still receive deliveries without requiring a signature, usage of which has surged by about 300 per cent since it was introduced.
"The Ombudsman conducted an investigation in 2010 to review the first year of the Safe Drop program ... since that time, complaints concerning Australia Post have increased from 2083 to a peak of 5613 in 2014-15," a spokeswoman for the Ombudsman said.
"Australia Post advises that, over this same period, the volume of ... parcels has increased from around 150 million to over 215 million. However the ratio of complaints to our office concerning delivery issues, ie, carding, safe-drop and signature on delivery, have remained relatively the same."
Since January 2015, NSW Fair Trading has received 759 complaints about transport and postal services, generally relating to loss and damage claims, unsatisfactory performance of the service, and non or partial supply.
But, according to the Australia Post Customer Contact Centre, carding-related enquiries represented less than 1 per cent of calls this financial year.
Despite this, Mrs Pender's husband Liam said he felt Australia Post was "not fulfilling its charter to deliver things".
"They returned a [$36 million] profit last year. I suspect this is off the back of not actually delivering parcels and instead making many people pick them up." Â
An Australia Post spokesman said there had been no reduction in performance levels, while their parcels network continued to deliver more than 95 per cent of all items on-time or early to 11.6 million addresses nationally.
It is also understood drivers were not required to meet daily delivery quotas.
"The national 'knock and call out'Â process requires drivers to knock at the door three times before leaving a card. [This] has received very positive customer feedback," he said.
Delivery drivers will leave a card if they are unable to find a safe place, or if they cannot access the address for safety reasons. A card will also be left if the retailer or manufacturer sending a parcel prohibits deliveries without a signature.
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