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Teamwork makes the impossible happen

The Virgin Blue marketing manager was at a loss. It was three weeks before Christmas and it looked as though Richard Branson's valued employees would be missing out on their presents. That wasn't an option.

As the marketing manager hunted for a solution, the 14,400 bottles of wine and 2,400 brightly coloured picnic sets continued to sit in the warehouse. Two separate warehouses - the wine in Adelaide and the picnic sets in the Gold Coast.

Call after call, as she rang numerous transport companies, she was told that it couldn't be done. That there wasn't enough time.

And then she spoke to Julee Hartmann of Spring Hill PACK & SEND.

So far, as part of the Brisbane CBD, the Spring Hill service centre had mainly serviced consumers and small businesses, specialising in delicate, awkward or valuable items. Julee had never before encountered a job this big. 'No limits' she remembered from her days of training. And so PACK & SEND founder and managing director, Michael Paul, was called.

'I've done everything you told me about in training and I've said we can definitely find a solution!'

Michael Paul winced. His 'No Limits' culture had come to give him a serving. 'Julee,' he replied gently. 'That's definitely a terrific attitude, but do you know how many semi-trailer loads of wine we're talking about here' Not wanting to add any negativity, Michael decided a bit of exploration was called for. And when a few heads get together, pretty special things can happen.

With a new direction to follow, Julee immediately recruited her Pack & Send partners. Pack & Send Crows Nest, Sydney for 400 deliveries, Pack & Send Boronia, Melbourne for 200 and Pack & Send Norwood in Adelaide for 100. Julee and Peter were to handle the 1700 Brisbane deliveries themselves.

After moving all the wine and picnic sets on to their respective Pack & Send service centres, the Hartmanns decided they would pack all their 1700 cartons in a warehouse offsite and then have them distributed through Pack & Send specialist courier suppliers.

To make the job easier for their assisting service centres, Julee and Peter had the picnic sets sent along with cartons, pre-paid freight vouchers, address labels and detailed instructions for packaging. This could then be put together with the wine that was timed to arrive simultaneously.

And, needless to say, the Virgin Blue employees did get their presents. Right in time for a well deserved Christmas toast.

Innovative packaging at your request

'Get 72 dozen eggs across the country in one piece Sure, we can do that for you!' Stuart Harvey of Pack & Send North Ryde put the phone down. He relished receiving unusual requests and this one was sure to get him thinking.

The call had came from a long term client of Stuart's who wanted his eggs transported from a farm in Gatton, regional Queensland, across the country to North Ryde, Sydney. All within three days.

Stuart was left busily developing an egg packaging system that would protect the produce from all the bumps and jolts of a 1000km road trip.

'I knew Pack & Send got the job because of our ability to reduce the number of times the cargo was handled,' said Stuart. 'If a normal freight company had been used, the eggs would have changed hands six to seven times, drastically increasing the chance of breakage.'

After some experimentation with cardboard and bubble wrap, Stuart came up with a sturdy, protective package. Next was to get on to Pack & Send's Service Centre Connect system.

Pack & Send Toowoomba was quick to make use of Stuart's specialist egg packaging solution when they collected the eggs from the farm in Gatton, sending them safely over 130km to Pack & Send Albion in Brisbane and then, finally, on to their destination in Sydney.

Very happy with a successful job, Stuart commends the Service Centre Connect system saying the job would have been impossible to complete without it.