Local business owners and residents are frustrated by prolonged delays for Aramex courier deliveries to Central.

One Maniototo business owner, who wished to remain anonymous, notified The Central App of a 15-day delay on a package that was sent via courier from Christchurch to Alexandra.

“I sent three or four emails about it, they were not replied to at all. 

“I followed up with the distributor, who also followed up. I tried head office in Auckland too.

“Head office said it was to do with Covid-19… and the delays were because people were sick with Covid-19.”

The business owner said the delay had cost her “quite a bit of money” in lost sales.

She said she’d tried the online tracking system but as the package was not scanned as being received at the depot there was no information about where it was located.

“It said it was in transit, [the package] was probably just sitting dumped in the warehouse.”

Another local had to stay home from work for two days as his employer was waiting on crucial parts to arrive for a client's job.

One Alexandra woman told The Central App she had driven to the courier depot in Cromwell to try to locate a parcel herself.

“It was a gift for my grandson - I knew it had been sent by the toy shop, but it never turned up at my place.”

She was relieved it was finally found at the depot. 

A Clyde resident said she had waited for more than 25 minutes at the Cromwell depot while staff tried to find her package that was missing. 

In this instance the parcel had also not been scanned, and it ended up being out in a van for delivery but Aramex staff could not track it.

An Auckland-based wholesaler and distribution company, who wanted to remain anonymous, said they are frustrated with the poor service.

A spokesperson for the company said parts have been delayed at the depot and packages have been lost for days on end.  

The Aramex franchise in Cromwell changed ownership in November 2021. 

The Aramex website states that there are minor delays of two days for Alexandra, Cromwell and Clyde. 

Aramex NZ chief executive Mark Little responded to The Central App’s questions by saying there had been “some” delivery delays from the Central South Island depot “in recent weeks”.

“We are working hard with the local team to ensure overdue freight is delivered as quickly as possible. 

“The impact of Covid-19 and influenza has been a contributing factor to the delays, with our regional franchisees having only returned to work this week after personally being unwell.”

He said Aramex had now “reduced delays on all deliveries to a maximum of three working days.”

Mark said the backlog should be cleared by the end of this week.

“We’d like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we continue to work with the Central South Island depot to return to operational efficiency.”

Have you been impacted by courier delays? Share your story with [email protected]