Well, I think I've averaged one per month, but I'm not terribly consistent. I sent 4 parcels off in one hit back in September, and have not made it to the Post Office again until today. My current work hours and the opening hours of the Post Office don't mix. I put a parcel together weeks ago, and it was has sat by the front door awaiting the day when I could dispatch it.
I'm sure this is a problem for many other people. I leave for work before the local Post Office opens, and I get home after it shuts. You can't just stick a 2kg parcel in a mail box - it has to be presented at the counter. If you commute to work by public transport, lugging a box on the bus is not an attractive option. My local Office Works sells all sorts of envelopes, but no BM boxes, so I have to find an open Post Office in order to buy the empty boxes.
The logistics of such a simple operation can be a nightmare for those of us that toil 9-5 in the city.
However, it can be overcome.
Everyone has days off from time to time. I have decided that for me, the best option is to send a truckload of parcels several times a year rather than trying to send one or more per month. I add a few items to the shopping list each week, and stockpile enough over a month or so to fill 3 or 4 boxes. When I visit the Post Office to send a pile of parcels, I buy an armful of BM boxes for the next round. Everything I am sending is not perishable, so it can sit in a box in the back room for a month until the next posting day.
So if you are finding the process of sending a parcel to be a bit painful, you're not alone. However, whenever I think, "Oh crikey, I need to take 10 minutes and go out of my way to post this - what a pain", I think of the conditions that our troops in the forward areas are living under, and all my annoyances and irritations at the Post Office opening hours and the inconvenience they cause just evaporate.
4 comments:
Dunno if eBay is cheaper? They sell them by 20s. May work out cost effective?? http://cgi.ebay.com.au/20x-BM-Australia-Post-Cardboard-Box-Boxes-Carton_W0QQitemZ160376357357QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Envelopes_Bags_Boxes?hash=item25572d01ed
Squeak x
Thanks, Squeaky.
Hmm. $27.50 for 20 BM boxes. Plus postage. Wonder how much the postage is? I think they're $2 each from the PO, so it could be a good saving. I'm not savvy enough on e-Bay to find what the postage is.
I got a package of 20 BM boxes and got $8 off, which I thought was quite good. Naah I wouldn't know my way around e-bay either!!
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/20x-BM-Australia-Post-Cardboard-Box-Boxes-Carton_W0QQitemZ370292582304QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Envelopes_Bags_Boxes?hash=item56372867a0
That's a link to the place they are for sale. You may need to cut and paste it, links don't seem to be working for me lately and I see the link by "anonymous" didn't work.
Scroll down the page when you find it and it has postage prices for all over Australia, ranging from free pick up in Seven Hills, $8 for Sydney metro and through to $27 in the NT.
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