Brendan Appleby said he had become so exasperated that he had taken to chasing after delivery drivers to demand an explanation, getting different "contradictory excuses" each time.

"He started making up some story about it being because of COVID, which is crap because they were doing it way before COVID," Mr Appleby said.

"It's been going on for years. They do not bother walking up the stairs."

Mr Appleby is the owner of FireMate Software, which has a first floor office in a Coleman Street building.

He said he had sent in many complaints to the Australia Post, but he kept on getting shunted between different bureaucratic departments.

"They're a faceless organisation. There is no one you can complain to, they always pass it on - it's always someone else's fault," Mr Appleby said.

"We don't believe anyone should have the right to receive a Cartier watch given the service we've been getting."

IN OTHER NEWS:

An Australia Post spokesman said delivery drivers were usually not allowed to deliver to offices on higher levels, because it meant they would have to leave their bike unattended.

He said the regular postie who usually covered Mr Appleby's route had a special arrangement to deliver to that building's front desk, but he happened to be away on Tuesday and replaced with a different driver who was unaware of the arrangement.

To prevent this from happening again, the spokesman said they would leave a notice card in the building's delivery slot to remind any substitute posties about the arrangement.

"In this instance, we have made special arrangements that all signature items for any business within this building would be delivered to the front office and a signature gained from office management," he said.

"Our people have been working harder than ever to deliver record volumes of parcels. While we always try our best to deliver to the addressed property, mail and parcel delivery arrangements can vary."