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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : NZ Post might kill my website....
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
Well, in the news tonight, it was announced that NZ Post are CLOSING two Dunedin post offices, and the only one in Mosgiel - where I am based. This seems kinda nuts to me, as Mosgiel has seen constant growth in the last decade. Anywhere they can find land, they build houses on, so our population has gone UP in the last ten years or so, not down, but they are still closing our post-office for a town with about 11,000 people.... The nearest place I(we) can then go to post stuff overseas will be about 10km(~6.2 miles) away, and that is assuming they have not closed THAT one by the time you read this. If I have to go to Dunedin now to post anything, that is about 18km(11 miles) each way, so will probably kill any website sales as the shipping will be so freaking expensive if I have to cover the cost of actually getting to a post office that far away just to freakin' mail something. Out of interest, can other members here please let me know how far they would have to go, if they wanted to post something at their closest post-office? I am not talking about just mailing a letter in a public mailbox, I am talking if you have to actually go to the local post office and put all the stickers and customs labels etc on your parcel to send it wherever. I would be interested in this for comparison reasons. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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Chopperp Guru  Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1097 |
5.3k's ChopperP |
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Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5119 |
Yeah I'm also about 10km ( 5km dirt road ) to a corner store / post office agent, and 18km to a full sized post office. I guess you'll need to weigh up how much you use in fuel and time. You could do a weekly post office run once or twice a week instead of next day, but would your customers accept the slower delivery times? Unfortunately services like the post office, Telstra are now profit based instead of service based, and little people like us dont represent a profit. The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Bill7300 Senior Member  Joined: 05/08/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 159 |
12.3 kms here Grogs, but I have to go there to collect my mail anyway, as there is no roadside delivery here. A PO Box is mandatory, although they do give us a slightly discounted annual rental on the box. Bill Bill |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
Interesting. I guess I might have been lucky to have been within 1km of the post-office up until now.....  Still interested in anyone else's range-from-post-office figures.  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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crez Senior Member Joined: 24/10/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 152 |
10km. I have to go there to collect larger items. |
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palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1993 |
I live about 40 Km from town (Townsville Q.) We do have a general store that is a P.O. about 10 Km away but very basic. Something I noticed when in town is that the P.O. is going self serve, like the big shopping centres. You have to weight yourself put money in a machine it spits out stamps, put them on article and stick it in the box. I refused to do that and a lady came out and did it for me, but it won't be long. Paul. Edit. Our closest bank branch just closed we now have about 50Km to go to the bank. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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MicroBlocks Guru Joined: 12/05/2012 Location: ThailandPosts: 2209 |
About 5kms here in Prachuap. For me not so much of a problem as I bring my kids to school everyday and that is just 500m away from the post office. I do have to wait 30 minutes though until they are open. Microblocks. Build with logic. |
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Revlac Guru Joined: 31/12/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1154 |
About 18Km for me, I get on well with the local post they deliver large parcels and this morning she called to see if I would be at the gate to sign for a parcel when it arrived. Cheers Aaron Off The Grid |
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jman Guru Joined: 12/06/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 711 |
Hi G Under a KM for me Regards Jman |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
Perhaps I should start running a LOCAL post-office delivery service for my local area.  People can post their mail at a box I would setup, and I will collect it all and deliver it to the nearest post-office for people - for 50c a letter or something. Perhaps with one of these and a MM chip, I can setup an automated mail drop-off box thing.....  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6283 |
10k for me. I have to collect parcels but we do have delivery of letters. Jim VK7JH MMedit |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1667 |
Population here is 11,600. Just a km to the PO from here. Very surprised that a similar sized town is losing their PO over there. Don't know what your PO's are like over there, but you should see the crap ours sell. Fluffy toys, heated slippers, the "Wonder Products" as seen on TV. Check out their Cattle Dog for a laugh. Makes it pretty obvious why they can't deliver mail. |
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| Paul_L Guru Joined: 03/03/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 769 |
5 miles to Hopewell Junction, 9 miles to Wappingers Falls. |
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| paceman Guru Joined: 07/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1329 |
Close here Grogs - it's an outer suburb of Melbourne (Research) - half a Km at most. Sending stuff is easy and good but receiving mail/parcels is a lot slower, they effectively only deliver every second day and that's added to slow sorting/mail hub times. It's no great issue for me though because it's a hobby but I understand your concern trying to run a good business service. An extra few days to get something from you wouldn't effect me if you decided to only go there say twice a week. Greg |
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Quazee137 Guru Joined: 07/08/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 593 |
1.6km A few minutes on my electric trike. |
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Azure Guru Joined: 09/11/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 446 |
Not sure if it helps, but maybe you can get a bunch of the customs declaration stickers from the post office and hold some stock of the required envelopes you use. The envelopes are pretty cheap when purchased in box quantities. Does not fix the longer trip time but does make the trip more efficient. When I was selling regularly online and also doing a lot of local and international postage I was able to get reasonable quantities of the customs declaration labels so they could all be prepared before going to the post office. Time at the post office was reduced mostly to queuing time and weighing/paying. |
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| astroboy Regular Member  Joined: 28/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 41 |
Its only about 200 metres for me since I'm pretty much in the middle of the big smoke here. But maybe there are many people who will wait a few extra days when they know they are getting quality... |
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pcaffalldavis Senior Member Joined: 17/10/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 187 |
1/3 mile for us in Hyder Alaska. The PO is open five days a week, 10-1 & 2-5, and Sat 10:30-Noon, closed on Sunday. Mail planes only service Hyder Mondays, and Thursdays, excluding holidays, and weather permitting. It is common during the rainy seasons; spring, fall and winter to have no planes for a week to ten days. Just about every year we have at least one or possibly two periods of two to three weeks without a mail plane. All on account of extended bad weather and short daylight hours in winter. Oh, by the way, the PO here doesn't deliver anything. YOU go to the PO to get your mail, letters and packages. The bank closed here in 1932 and never reopened. So those who actually use hard currency tend to try and keep it circulating in town. It is a real pain to have to fly out to get cash once every year or two. 'Course there isn't a lot to spend cash on. No grocery store, but a couple of seasonal restaurants, two bars, a couple gift shops, a furrier/cheese store, and of course the Post Office! I'm still waiting for some Hall effect chips from China I ordered March 19 so I can build the Gauss meter shown on the BS browser side panel. They should be here any day now! Ah, the joys of living remote. Peter in Hyder We're all here 'cause we're not all there. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
This has been very interesting for me. I don't quite know WHY I just assumed most members here had a local post-office within a km or so of where they lived. This makes me feel a little better, as, although I still will have to detour to get to the nearest P.O, it would seem many of you already had to, so I was lucky that I didn't have to up to this point, so I should be thankful for that!  @ Azure: Yes, I do keep a stock of customs stickers, boxes, envelopes and airmail stickers all here. So all I really need to do, is go to the P.O to actually mail the things. I do as much as I can here, as that cuts down on the time I have to spend in the P.O. I still like the idea of doing a local mail collection for others here in town, and running all that mail into the P.O for them for a small fee - might be profitable! Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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