IMPORTANT POINTS:
- Australian expats receive home care packages in the run up to Christmas.
- An Australian in the US was shocked to find the contents of her package just before Christmas.
- Australia Post was unable to provide any information as to what might have happened to the package
Here three children had been eagerly awaiting their grandmother’s package in Australia, expecting some of their favorite home products – including biscuits and lollipops – to be listed on the package.
“We believe the package was opened by customs for inspection and they put the wrong things back in,” Ms Eastley said.
These were the items sent to the Eastley family in Alaska instead of the Australian groceries they had hoped for. Source: delivered
The US Postal Service (USPS) website confirms that international packages can be opened by customs officers for inspection, stating, “After customs processing, the customs officer will repackage and reseal the mail.”
Ms Eastley wasn’t sure if the skull was real but said she couldn’t find a hallmark on it. It also had some dirt on it.
When asked by SBS News, Australia Post was unable to provide any details as to what might have happened to the package, other than to confirm that its system recorded the package arriving in the US in early October, almost two months before it was delivered to the family was delivered to Alaska.
An animal skull wasn’t quite what this Aussie family expected in their care package from home. Source: delivered
Ms Eastley said she emailed the USPS about the strange delivery and planned to return the items to the post office after Christmas when the queues had eased.
December is traditionally the busiest month of the year for parcel delivery in Australia and Australia Post expects to process tens of millions of parcels this month.