Coronavirus Status Page
February, 2022
Shipping services for both AusPost and Sendle are running daily from our facility after Sendle was switched off during most of January from driver shortages.
Delivery timeframes are expected to return to normal as the peak of Omicron starts to pass and the number of people in isolation reduces.
Whilst there are still high risks of infection and staff shortages, we anticipate the impact and risk of shipping incidents to be lower in the absence of any new virus variants emerging.
January, 2022
If you are wondering why the Sendle shipping has been switched off............there's a very good reason.
The recent surge in COVID cases from the Omnicron variant has crippled the logistics industry in Australia.
That's right, the freight companies are on their knees and it's far worse than any of the lockdowns during the last 22 months.
Right now, there are extreme shortages of drivers for trucks and vans and that's causing big problems with supply chains and for getting things from A to B.
During December 2021 and early January 2022, we experienced inconsistent performance from Sendle and their courier partners - quite frankly it was unacceptable and it's wasting our time every day for hours and hours chasing up deliveries when it should just work.
In some cases, there have been parcels taking a month to arrive to customers. For our beloved fresh roasted coffee that we push so very hard to roast, pack and send every day in such short timeframes, this is rather diabolical !
There have also been cases where the scheduled collection of parcels from our facility each afternoon has not occured because drivers are off work and they can't get replacements.
To reduce the risk of parcels being stranded, we have switched off Sendle - it's causing us a lot of problems at this time and we simply just don't need to deal with all these added delays when there are so many other factors affecting freight transit timeframes and supply chains breaking everywhere.
AusPost, whilst also potentially at risk of overloading and delays, at least can manage scale and eliminate the single-point-of-failure so often occuring with couriers being one-man operators.
November 2021
As lockdowns in Victoria start to ease, there is still a significant backlog of freight cargo trapped inside of shipping company warehouses.
Yes, it's frustratingly slow with parcels sitting for up to a week in the AusPost hubs.
AusPost are planning to halt collections from retailers in VIC and maybe NSW in an effort to throttle the overwhelming volumes.
Sendle is performing remarkably well - in fact Sendle deliveries are almost twice the speed of AusPost.
Please remember to be patient as the volume of parcels in the networks remains abnormally high.
Soon, the annual Black Friday/Cyber Monday discount promotional events will be running for many retailers and this historically clogs up the parcel networks in the last week of November and the first 2 weeks of December every year.
November, 2020
The Victorian government has commenced progressively relaxing restrictions relating to personal and business activities.
From late November, most businesses, including our mycuppa operation are permitted to resume full operational capacity and from early December there will be further easing of restrictions.
As the threat of new outbreaks remains a constant risk, we will continue to ensure our COVID-safe practices are implemented ongoing - sanitizing, cleaning, distancing, wearing masks when in close contact and restricting access to our premises.
The pandemic has resulted in a major shift for the ways in which consumers purchase goods with a huge surge in online shopping. With greater e-commerce sales also means a critical problem develops with parcels network congestion - especially during promotional events and peak shopping periods such as the lead up to Xmas.
Parcel network congestion causes transit delays - often parcels can sit for many days without moving when companies like Australia Post are overloaded.
Please be patient - we ask our customers to understand that we push really hard every day to get fresh roasted coffee on the road fast (nobody does it faster) and the sender is not able to influence the performance of the shipping company.
Shipping delays are a part of the online experience nobody wants, so please don't abuse us or threaten us, or be nasty to us if your parcel is delayed - that's seriously unfair and unreasonable.
August 5, 2020
The Victorian government has enforced Stage 4 restrictions for the Melbourne metropolitan area.
We are continuing to roast, pack and send your fresh premium coffees every day with no impact upon our speed or performance and our COVID-safe plans have been further strengthened.
Please be aware that with many retailers closed, they will ramp up their online efforts and this in turn will result in higher volumes of parcels moving through all parcel networks.
We are already seeing signs of freight congestion - AusPost in particular are not performing to expectation and it's a looking like a repeat of the delays experienced in late March and April during the first wave of lockdowns.
Please have patience - get your order in earlier and allow extra transit time.
July 9, 2020
Over the last few days we have received a surprisingly high number of emails and calls from interstate customers asking if we are still running and whether it's OK to place orders.
We assume this is in response to heightened focus and attention on the developing situation around Melbourne.
So we have prepared this update to help assist you in planning for the possibility of changing conditions in the performance of parcel networks around Australia.
We are predicting parcel networks may once again suffer from congestion or capacity constraints and this will be a broader issue beyond Melbourne, affecting most areas around Australia.
Later this evening, the Greater Melbourne area along with a Northern regional shire will be placed back into Stage 3 lockdown restrictions for 6 weeks as a precaution to help control the higher infection rates in this second wave of COVID-19.
Firstly, we wanted to inform you the lockdown restrictions do not currently apply or impact mycuppa's operations or our abilities to process your orders promptly.
Our secure facility remains isolated 24/7 and 3 days ago we implemented even stricter physical distancing protocols when handing our freight over to collection agents each afternoon.
It's likely that other companies in Melbourne and also around Australia will again revise their own COVID-19 risk management plans. Some, like us, will strengthen their processes and put extra procedures in place.
With extra measures it's reasonable to expect these may introduce a degree of slower output whilst precautions are followed. We are adjusting by starting early and running faster to meet the earlier collection times.
We anticipate parcel networks around Australia may again hit the wall from extreme congestion as experience tells us that during normal periods these parcel networks are barely able to keep up, so add in tighter restrictions, less staff allowed in parcel hubs, physical shops and stores forced to close again, interstate border controls, etc. and it's going to contribute to slower freight transit timeframes.
However, we do stress that it's not line haul (interstate) where the delays occur, e.g. getting from state to state has always been surprisingly efficient, sometimes it's the fastest part of the journey.
Higher parcel volumes in the networks always hit central hubs hardest and that's where delays are concentrated, so it will also mean that local metro parcel networks around the country may start to be affected in similar ways as parcels all move through a spoke and hub arrangement, never point to point, with the central state hub causing a severe bottleneck.
It may not be as bad as the extreme frustrations during late March and April where too many parcels clogged hubs, sitting for weeks waiting to be processed, but we think it will slow to varying degrees.
Parcel network delays will hit all capital cities and not just Victoria as freight networks tend to suffer from a "knock on" effect as extra precautions are implemented.
It's easy to dismiss this as some type of exaggeration, but freight networks are like cogs and gears and delays for customers in Perth that are not locked down might be caused from incidents in the East Coast.
Bottom line folks, it's reckless and irresponsible to say "everything's going to be normal" and we ask our customers to be prepared for some freight frustrations ahead - we can't see it yet, nobody is telling us when or if it's going to turn pear-shaped, but............. we have a keen sense that national freight delays may only be just around the corner and it's likely to impact almost everyone, not just Melbourne.
Right now, shipping appears to be working OK, but that can change dramatically in just a couple of days.
So please consider planning ahead and allowing a few extra days for parcels to arrive - whether it's from us or any other merchant, the networks we use are all the same and remember to please be patient if you experience parcel network delays - everyone is trying to do their best.
May 1, 2020
Parcel networks around Australia continue to experience extreme congestion, particularly in the hubs and depots as the huge increase in items moving in the parcel networks during lock down restrictions results in transit delays.
We ask our customers to be patient - you can already see from the dispatch notification that your parcel has been sent promptly - we always process customer orders super-fast.
Once we hand over a parcel to the shipping provider, our hands are tied - we simply can't influence the performance of the parcel inside the networks.
Parcels do not travel point to point, so distance is not the issue as line haul (interstate transit) is performing exceptionally well.
The problems are in the hubs and depots - vast arrays of cages filled with millions of parcels are stacked up the the roofs in warehouses waiting to be processed - this is the delay period or factor that greatly affects transit time - waiting to be scanned, x-rayed and routed, not the physical transit.
Customers residing outside of Victoria should also be aware that your parcels are not "stuck" in Melbourne. The tracking history will not display or show the whereabouts of a parcel, only the point at which the last scan was performed.
For interstate parcels, there is no scan or record you will see to indicate your parcel is actually on the road or in your local state parcel hub waiting to be processed. In other words, if you are feeling anxious because there has been no scan update for many days, it means the parcel is closer to you than us, e.g. it's waiting in a depot of hub in a queue to be scanned.
Sendle transit performance has been significantly faster than AusPost during the pandemic. Whilst this is not a recommendation for our customers to choose Sendle over AusPost, we are simply just reporting our observations. Customers have choices in the checkout as to who carried your parcel, e.g. it's your choice.
If your parcel has been delayed in transit, please contact your shipping provider in the first instance - all communications relating to your parcel transit are between the shipping provider and you, we don't see any of these messages. Asking us to find out what's going on is not efficient for you or us.......as we may not be able to lodge a support ticket immediately due to our current production or operational commitments, so the response may take longer.
Our process and information is the same as yours as both sender and receiver have equal rights to contact the shipping provider.
April 4, 2020
With Easter approaching, freight networks have historically (at least in our experience over the last 12 years) ground to a halt with delays and congestion causing frustration.
We see it every year and this year it's going to be a whole lot worse with most retailers shutting their stores and relying upon online shopping.
When severe congestion occurs in the parcel networks, the basic concept of First In First Out (FIFO) is lost. It's just a wall to wall sea of parcels stacked up in parcel hubs and depots with no real process other than workers trying their best to clear congestion.
Some parcels may get though, others will be delayed. It's not a fault of the sender, just random luck, or lack thereof.
Please have patience - if the parcel networks clog over Easter, it will take at least 2 weeks to clear.
Consider getting your orders in early to plan for longer transit times.
March 20, 2020
An important update regarding the recent changes in the way parcels are now delivered.
During the last week, ALL freight companies have implemented changes to the ways in which deliveries of goods to your premises are now performed, whether it's an order from us or another merchant.
Signatures are no longer required by delivery agents as they minimize physical contact.
They may also not notify you (knock on door) when parcels have been dropped, so receivers need to act with more initiative in monitoring the electronic messages that freight companies send you directly.
Parcels sent with security, e.g. signature required - have this week been automatically changed by AusPost and Sendle to Safe Drop, or in some cases just drop without interaction which is likely to be the standard from now on.
There are more detailed descriptions offered by the freight companies, but we doubt their agents will follow all the procedures with consistency, so we are explaining how this change affects your delivery.
It's designed to protect delivery agents and recipients from close physical contact and also to reduce or eliminate a "futile delivery attempt" when there's nobody to sign at the premises and requires a subsequent attendance at a collection outlet.
No signatures are being requested by delivery agents and it's a mandatory (but sensible and practical) change forced by our shipping providers until the threats of infection are reduced which may last many months.
This change affects all parcels from any sender, not just us and it's across all freight companies, not just AusPost and Sendle's partners.
What it means is that your parcels are being left at your premises without a lot of notice or attention - this week we have encountered a higher spike of incidents where parcels are being left in the "wrong places" such as a neighbours, or the wrong address, etc.
Unfortunately, this is a situation we can't control or influence, so please be patient and check with nearby residents (respecting safe physical distancing practices) in the first instance if you experience this type of delivery anomaly.
Parcels can be hidden by delivery agents in al sort of obscure locations if the premises does not have visible privacy from the street, so please check unusual areas - yep, even under the house or in the garbage bin !
March 13, 2020
Dear customers and subscribers,
We wanted to reach out and ensure you are informed about the potential impact of how our services may be affected in the coming weeks.
As we witness the rapid spread of the coronavirus throughout the world, more countries are enforcing lock down conditions as the only effective measure to contain the escalating rise in new infections.
We anticipate Australia will implement restrictions and limitations that may extend to mandatory shutdown of non-essential businesses or a shortage of staff resources required to function at normal levels of operation - - which may vary by region.
Freight services have been continuously stretched to breaking capacity for more than 18 months - long before coronavirus appeared as we often experience difficulties in our normal, scheduled afternoon collections from either AusPost or couriers regularly hitting overloaded or short-staffed difficulties.
Currently, the volumes of parcel freight around the country are approaching levels similar to peak sale events as consumers opt to order online instead of risking attending public areas or it's driven by hysteria of supply shortages such as toilet paper, etc.
There have been no official statements from our shipping providers, but we can see the volumes increasing and the vans carrying more cargo when they turn up to collect from us each day.
An example of the freight congestion - we placed an order with Coles online yesterday and the first available delivery slot was in 6 days.
We see a real risk that logistics will slow or stop, either for short or longer periods.
Not enough drivers will be the primary factor.
This will limit us and every other merchant's ability to send customer orders promptly or it may delay the transit time-frames with parcels being temporarily stranded in parcel depots.
In a worst case scenario, only critical freight related to medical supplies will be given priority.
Our facility is not open to the public and hence we have a lower risk profile. We have also placed a total bad on visitors or suppliers entering the premises.
There is a possibility our facility may experience reduced capacity from staff shortage if we deem it's in the best interests of our staff to self-isolate - we may also temporarily shutdown if the situation warrants that action.
Everything we do is labour intensive and it requires trained staff to work on our site - nothing functions autonomously or remotely, therfore our capacity and operations may decline, or even halt for days or weeks.
During this week, we have seen an increase in customer orders that is probably best explained by a proactive measure to stock up in case of extended outage.
Nobody can predict how the next few weeks will play out and we certainly do not wish to alarm or incite panic behavior.
However, we are now suggesting to our customers to consider ordering your coffee needs sooner, rather than later - so that there is sufficient lead time for goods to arrive without being impacted by a reduction or complete stoppage in shipping services outside of our control.
As we have seen in other countries, the situation can change in a short period of time.
Take care and stay safe.