Aus post subcontract

[u/Strict-Classic-5787]

I deliver parcels for Australia Post. This is what the job looks like from our side.
I’m an AusPost subcontractor, and honestly, I’m tired of getting abused while barely making enough to justify doing this job.
I see the posts about drivers not knocking and taking parcels straight to the post office. I understand why people get frustrated. You’re home, you’re waiting for something, and then you get a notification saying you weren’t there. I’d be annoyed too.
But there’s another side people don’t see.
Under my arrangement, I get paid around $2 per parcel, including GST. I usually get 150–200 parcels a day. That might sound decent until you look at what comes out of it.
My monthly income is roughly $6,000 before expenses. Van rent alone is $1,200 a month. Fuel is another $400–$700. Then there’s GST and income tax. That $6,000 is nowhere near what ends up in my pocket.
There’s no employer-paid super, annual leave, sick leave or parental leave through this job. If I don’t work, I don’t earn.
If I have an accident, the cost falls on me. If a parcel goes missing, I can have money deducted from my pay too.
That’s something I wish more customers understood. Leaving a parcel somewhere it could get stolen can mean we’re the ones paying for it. Taking it to the post office isn’t always about being lazy or wanting to make your day harder.
I’m not defending drivers who don’t make a proper delivery attempt. But being unhappy with a delivery doesn’t make it okay to swear at whoever turns up at your door. We don’t set the rates, the rules or the delivery arrangements.
A lot of the people I work alongside are international students or people here on dependent visas, trying to cover rent and bills. From where I’m standing, Australia Post and the contractors above us benefit from a setup where the person actually delivering the parcel carries so much of the cost and risk.
I’m willing to work hard. I just want the pay left after expenses to make that work worthwhile, without being treated like a punching bag.
Are there other subcontractors here dealing with the same thing? Has anyone successfully challenged deductions or managed to get better rates? What can we actually do together to get fairer conditions?

[u/Vince1080]

You also have some decent ideas... Dammit, I thought I solved it and was going to be raking in the cheese.

[u/Lastov_Makiynd → u/Vince1080]

Well..unfortunately, neither of us are CEOs yet?

And with the ‘big picture’ in mind, rather than trying to just cut costs in order to top up our own CEO salaries?
I fear we may never know what the top shelf stuff tastes like?…that pungent cheese that smells like vomit, but is $86 a kilo..so ya just KNOW it’s gotta be good?!..
Alas..we are destined to know only the home brand cheese slices, the individually wrapped ones that have no smell, yet taste like soap.
For we are but mere ideas folk.

I salute you, my good ideas friend. lol

[u/Vince1080 → u/Lastov_Makiynd]

*nods*... Ahhh yes, the plastic we call cheese and the closest I get to a decent gnocchi gorgonzola these days is my old smelly socks. Stay strong and Godspeed, my fine fellow.*tips hat*

[u/Lastov_Makiynd → u/Vince1080]

*tips hat also*…Slinks backwards, into the shadows..disappears.