You’re expecting a delivery from Australia Post and have received a “Delayed Waiting to be Processed for Delivery” tracking update.
What does this mean exactly? Where is your mail item when you receive this alert and is there anything you need to do?
Let’s take a look…
Summary: Delayed Waiting to be Processed for Delivery
This update means that the package is experiencing a processing delay inside a sorting facility. This alert can be triggered at various points of the shipment journey.
Delayed Waiting to be Processed for Delivery – Guide
Essentially, this update is used by Australia Post to notify customers of processing delays in or on the way to the sorting facility.
Processing inside the facility is the act of the package being sorted for dispatch to the next location in the delivery network.
This means that the “Delayed Waiting to be Processed for Delivery” can be triggered at various junctures during the length of the shipment.
It is important to understand that the “Processed for Delivery” is slightly inaccurate. Delivery to the recipient’s address is not necessarily the next step in the shipment.
More accurately, the package has been delayed in being processed for leaving the facility.
The next step could be another facility in the delivery network, an Australian Post post office, or even the destination address.
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So Where is My Package When I See this Update?
Because the update can be triggered at varying points in the network, the only way you can really ascertain where your package is, is by looking at the accompanying details of the alert that preceded it.
Taking the screenshot above as an example.
Here, the package has been received by the Australia Post in Crawley WA.
It then states “Delayed Waiting to be Processed for Delivery”. In other words, the package experienced a processing delay at the very beginning of the shipment journey.
In the second example below, the shipment has already been received and passed through more than one facility before the “Delayed Waiting to be Processed for Delivery” update is triggered.
Here, the package has been delayed in getting to the facility in the region of the recipient.
In other words, it is close to the final stages of the shipment journey when the update was triggered.
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Causes of the “Delayed Waiting to be Processed for Delivery”
There are a number of reasons your package might be experiencing a delay.
Causes related to the facility include high package volumes and staffing problems, (the latter being prevalent during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic), as well as technical issues and even the package being overseen and not sorted in a timely manner.
Other delivery infrastructure problems such as being placed on the wrong truck after leaving the previous facility in the network, or weather and transport issues, will also cause a processing delay.
Essentially, you can think of this update as a catch-all description for when a package has experienced a problem in the Australia Post delivery network and could be delayed as result.
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How Long Until Delivery After This Update?
How long your package will take to be delivered after you see this update is related to at what stage in the delivery process the delay has occurred.
At the very least you are being told that Australia Post is aware of the issue and should be making efforts to mitigate the delay.
This means that your package may not even be delivered beyond the delivery window.
If the delay happens early in the shipment journey, there is a good chance that it will still arrive on time.
However, this is not always the case, and your package may well end up being several days late if the delay has been prolonged.
- Related Content: Cleared and Awaiting International Departure – AU Post
What To Do After Receiving the Update?
I recommend that you keep an eye on your Australia Post tracking for updates.
Hopefully, your package will begin moving again in a short period of time, and the delay will be minimum.
However, if the tracking ends up stuck on “Delayed Waiting to be Processed for Delivery” for several days and the delivery with no new alerts, I recommend you contact Australia Post to see what the issue is.
A representative should be able to help get the shipment moving again.
I’m a 25 year veteran of USPS. I’m retired now, but as the editor of Mailbox Master, I can’t quite remove myself from the carrier industry just yet. 🙂
