We have been promoting the ParcelPoint parcel pick up service at the sales counter with the placement of this brochure. It’s generating interest, letting shoppers know that we can be a collection point for online purchases.
If consumers ask their online shopping suppliers to offer ParcelPoint collection then we can expect to see parcel business grow. Being freight company agnostic means parcelPoint can develop more relationships and therefore get more coverage for the hundreds of newsagents in the network.
Story in today’s Courier Mail (11/10/12) about Australia Post’s expected announcement of their plan to “overhaul the way parcels are delivered” by rolling out “parcel lockers”. Interesting development.
Yes their business is changing dramaically and my understanding is they are not happy losing as much parcel business as they have.
Australia Post has made a lot of mistakes with the parcel business. If they are losing share they need to look at themselves first. They have not changed their fundamental process for 25 years. We are a newsagent and LPO. Our front door is open for 78 hours per week. We only offer parcel collection for 48 hours per week. Why ? Parcels only come to us after a contractor has (apparently) attempted to deliver them to the consignees home. ie We only handle carded parcels. We have up to 5 drop offs a day with up to 40 parcels in each drop off. We are handling 800-100 carded parcels per week – double over Christmas. Our commission on this is less than $300 per month. We have full legal responsiblity. We must scan in, scan out and account for any misses. We have to provide dedicated secure storage (36 lineal metres of full height shelving), insure for losses, and we have to track each parcel to be returned if not collected in 7 days. If we were paid decently we would offer this service 78 hours per week and customers would be happy. In the mean time we just watch Australia Post’s core business come under frequent threat because they lack the ability or will to innovate using their available and willing existing network in a more effective way.
This is a classic case of the last point before the customer getting starved because everyone else in the chain has had a full lunch. PIGS!
Ricky why not go the extra mile with the customer service and win more customers by allowing them to collect at any time that the newsagency is open?
It’s what I do with mine and I’ve found I’ve won extra business from both the nearby post offices and newsagencies because of it. Hell I even had one bloke move his post office box because of it and he now also spends money 6 out of 7 days in the news part of my business on anything from lotto and papers to stationery.
Paul we have considered this. The issue is that our newsagency (which includes Tatts) is very busy for the whole 78 hours. To provide LPO service full time would require either a sacrifice of newsagent service levels or rostering an extra staff member. As most of the LPO demand would be parcel connection the revenue would not cover the extra cost.
We have only been in the business for 3 years and one thing we have learned is that many suppliers or principals expect us to do things for next to nothing and justify it by saying we will get the revenue back because our service levels will bring in extra traffic. This might be partially true but we’re ending up with a store full of loss leaders and very few profit leaders. This is the biggest challenge of our business, and we think a huge challenge for the industry.
It would make far more sense to us if POAAL took the case up to Australia Post. It makes no sense to continue to be underpaid for providing a useful service when we could be a profitable part of a much bigger solution for the whole parcels industry.
I agree in part Ricky and I’ve only been doing this for about the same amount of time as yourself. I normally run with a staff member or myself on either counter (post and news counters) or in the busy upcomming season with an extra floater between the two (and I’m not a big store but we do generate a fair amount of traffic usually). Even when I’m here by myself early or late in the day I make it known that I’m happy to dish out the parcels (and also the occassional prepaid satchels etc ) and I’ve found that what I’ve gained often down the track has been worth the investment of the little bit of time (90 seconds to 2 minutes) that it takes to find and scan out a parcel. Just my 2 cents on my own experience so far. I definately don’t offer the full postal service out of hours though for the same reason you’ve mentioned.
BTW have you made sure that you’re getting paid correctly for the number of parcels you’re handling ? I had my area manager look at my volume a little while ago and just had confirmation in writing that they are doubling my parcel handling commissions to take into account the extra volume we handle now. I agree that it’s still probably not a fair recompense for the floor space or physical handling time but it is better than nothing and generates some addittional flow into other parts of the business quite often.
I do also largely agree with you last paragraph. Parcel volume will in all likelihood get rediculous next year with APs pairing with what is likely to become the worlds largest e retail site, Tarazz announced a few months back.