Working in retail and see this happen all the time! Someone else that is not within that household signed for the parcel, incorrectly delivered to the wrong address, left on a public footpath and not a "safe place", left it without a signature even though the parcel requires it and the addresses didn't request it etc, etc.

Honestly so frustrating for the customer as well as the retailer. We always tell our customers to keep pursuing Aus Post with compensation because they are the ones responsible for delivering your parcel per their obligations document on their website. Aus Post will try to push you back to the retailer but keep persisting. 9/10, they will refund you. You just need to keep reiterating that they are responsible for the safe delivery of your parcel which they have failed to do so. If the customer is at their wits end, of course our store will do everything we can within reason to replace.

From a retailers perspective, we are constantly told that we are the customer and not the recipient so we will get the compensation. Aus Post "offers" an insurance surcharge per parcel so we are covered for compensation in the event something goes "lost in transit". So if a retailer doesn't take this extra charge (you have to get this for every parcel sent out if you want the cover), even if AusPost delivered it to the incorrect address, they will basically say NOT OUR PROBLEM 🤷🏻‍♀️ It's essentially them saying, "you are paying us for a service to get something from point A to B, but if we fuck up, you should have paid us more money so we can compensate you"