When was the last time you wrote a letter? A handwritten letter that is sealed in an envelope and sent on its way with a stamp?
I can't recall either ...
The rise of emails and messaging services have been slowly but surely putting an end to the art and business of letters.
But just as pundits were calling the demise of the Post Office, these age-old institutions found a new calling: eCommerce.
The internet may have killed off letters but it has made parcel delivery more prolific than ever.
As one door closes, another opens
Whether by choice or circumstance (cue the global pandemic), we've all had to embrace online shopping these past few years. It's not exactly a new trend either: Remember your mother or grandmother buying things off the catalogue?
Online shopping is very much like that except that the internet and smartphones have supercharged it. In the process, the good old postal service has once again become indispensable to our modern lives.
In Australia, this service is provided by the infamous Australia Post, which thankfully is still a taxpayer owned, government enterprise - And long may it stay that way.
Our business, like so many other small businesses out there in online retail, could not exist without Australia Post's parcel delivery service, especially when you consider how dispersed our small population is across our vast continent.
Willow the Wonderer has reached almost every corner of our vast continent
Since we started our very own independent publishing house and online bookshop in 2021, we have been through the lot: A global pandemic, record fires and flood, two major international wars, acute supply chain shortages, chaos in global shipping and trade routes, record global inflationary pressure, and counting ...
We are grateful not only to still be around ... but more so to have created a children's book series that is loved by our readers - young and old (which quietly, has already become a bestseller by Australian publishing standards).
Willow the Wonderer books have reached children right across Australia. Each one of these, hand delivered to the door, post office box or a bookshop by one of the posties from Australia Post.
Australia Post's services has been especially critical in reaching readers in rural and regional Australia where frankly, most other courier services simply refuse to go.
The Post Office is a central feature of regional towns
When Darren and I did our "van-life book tour", one of the things that dawned on us as we drove around regional and rural Australia (apart from how few bookstores there were) was the central role that the Post Office plays in these towns.
We continued to fulfill customer orders through our online store as we travelled. This meant that every day we were stopping to pack and send orders from the nearest Post Office.
In the process, we've probably visited more Post Offices across the country than most folks working in Australia Post have!
It was quite the experience walking into some of the regional Post Offices. Many are housed in grand old buildings of yesteryears. Some have no doubt seen better days but architectural splendour and decadence of a bygone era is still there.
These Post Offices were also always a hive of activity - unsurprising given the broad range of services Posts Offices provide these days.
One of the most essential is banking, which will become even more important as banks (in spite of making tens of billions in profit) continue their exodus from regional and rural towns.
This is again an area where the actions and commitments of Australia Post earned our respect.
Transforming regional post offices into community hubs
It must have been around May this year, when reading through an eCommerce report on Australia Post's site, I first saw news of their ambitious new strategic initiative to reinvent their regional post offices.
The idea was to transform these grand old buildings into 'community hubs'.
Apart from providing the usual postal services the space would be transformed and opened up to small and large businesses who use their parcel delivery services. They would have the chance to "pop up" for 2-3 months at a time to promote their online brand and products and even to directly retail these on site.
Anyone in retail (or any human for that matter) knows how important real, physical contact and experience of a brand and products can be. That is why even tech giants like Apple invest so much in stores.
But this luxury is not within the reach of many small online businesses, like us.
We are in so many ways held hostage to monopolistic search and social media platforms (and their black box algorithms) to reach customers.
Organic reach (ie the ability to reach people without paying for ads or influencers) is all but dead and has been for a decade. Unless we can pay the asking price for digital marketing, we cannot exist.
To hear that a big business was opening their prime retail space to small businesses like ours, we could not resist.
It's a "win-win-win" all the way around
Australia Post like any other large organisation with large, fixed costs and operating in rapidly changing landscape has to transform.
They also have to avoid falling into the same trap that captures many large organisations over time: Losing touch with their community and becoming nothing more than a soulless money-making enterprise ...
Australia Post no doubt has the wisdom to understand that a physical presence and connection to the community is essential to achieving both these aims. They would not be embarking on such an initiative otherwise.
Transforming existing and potentially under-utilised retail space into something that can create and foster connections amongst members of their community - e.g. small business and rural Australia - is an incredibly valuable service that will garner a lot of goodwill from their community.
Small businesses are also mostly affairs of the heart - it certainly is for us. We inject sometime special into vibes that large business simply cannot replicate: A dash of fun, a sprinkling of joy and a whole lot of soul ❤
Regional and rural customers who frequent the post office will no doubt enjoy the richer experience that their local post office offers and perhaps even appreciate that they can pick up a thing or two, without having to pay for the regional/rural shipping premium.
It's what we call a 'win-win-win' all around
How it all started for us.
When I first read about this initiative online it took me all of a second to jump on and fill out the merchant application form.
It was all 'quiet on the Western Front' until a few weeks on when Joy, the Postal Manager at the Nambucca Heads Post Shop (where we first signed on as MyPost Business customers) serendipitously called me to check-in on how things were going and if she could help with anything.
"You sure can," I gleefully replied.
Out poured my rambling 'Willow the Wonderer, mental wellbeing, small independent press, local author and artist' pitch - And why Australia Post needs to work with us!
Poor Joy tried to chime in a few times and reassure me that she gets it - but I wasn't going to stop until I had finished...
Thankfully, she was all over the new community hub initiative and knew exactly who to call: Bec Jackson, the Pop Up at Post Ground Support at the newly minted, Orange Community Hub.
Within the week, it was all settled: We were going to be popping up at Post in Orange, Australia Post's first community hub
Thanks Joy!
First Impression of the Australia Post Community Hub at Orange
Come July, Darren and I were driving down to Orange to view the first concept community hub developed by Australia Post. To be honest, we were both filled with a little bit of dread that comes with uncertainty of any kind - we weren't sure what to expect.
Four hours later, we walked into the recently revamped Orange Post Office - and were impressed.
As soon as you stepped into the door, you could see that the team involved has given this a of thought. They have stretched the possibilities of what we usually associate with going to the post office.
The space with all the new fit outs looked great but more importantly, they have spared no expense where it truly matters - people.
Waiting for you, as you step into the door is a friendly concierge. You get greeted, directed to right part of the store for what you need and encouraged to check out the community hub. You can tell, he absolutely loves his role too!
All the post office staff were also casually attired and in open kiosks - a nice change from the bank teller type glass screens form a customer point of view.
To the right lay the newly designed community hub, complete with a cafe area, change rooms and pop-up displays from a multitude of small businesses, including a dedicated section for made in Australia.
Here also is a permanent staff member (Bec) who not only is the main person who liaises with all the businesses setting up shop but also becomes their surrogate for the duration of the pop-up.
As anyone in retail would know, handselling is what helps products move off the shelf. For small businesses like us and also large brands, this is priceless. We are glad to have Bec on our side :)
Right on the end lay the space reserved for Willow the Wonderer. Here's a quick preview of the space.
The community hub had only recently opened and like us, new tenants were preparing to move in over the following weeks.
Stay tuned!
Well, that is all I am going to share with you all for now...
Darren and I are driving to Orange this Sunday and setting up our pop up shop at Australia Post first thing Monday. And yes, we are going all out for what will be our first in-store Christmas display ...
Orange, here we come!
Willow the Wonderer is popping up at the Orange Post Office from September to December 2024.
Drop in to checkout our bestselling children's book series : Willow the Wonderer. A five-star rated read that makes for the perfect gift for little ones.
See you there!
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