Our purpose

Our purpose is to help people feel more connected, by bringing the communities we live in together to help each other.

This is why we exist.
Why? Why is this important to us, to the world?

To feel connected, to feel part of something, part of a community – this is something we all crave. Belonging.

And for all the online social connection that is possible in this world, still we find ourselves more disconnected from our own local communities than ever.

We like the idea of a community where everyone knows their neighbours.

We stand for corner store connection.

That feeling that comes from being in a new place, and you find the local bakery in the morning, and they do fresh croissants and the baker’s name is Annette; you find the laundromat and they’re open until midnight; you find the corner store and Gerry behind the counter welcomes you to the neighbourhood.

That’s corner store connection.

People helping each other, with things like looking after your parcel until you can come and collect it.

And the feeling of connection that comes with it – that is at the heart of what we need as humans.

We’d like to find that again.

Our Vision

“Our vision is a world where people are more connected with each other, and their local communities. Where we work together, as neighbours, to help each other.”

And so we created PARCELPOINT.

A network of local delivery, pickup and return locations – convenience stores, pharmacies, service stations – all open late and on weekends – all around Australia, where you can have a parcel delivered, and pick up or drop off whenever you like.

No stress. No missed deliveries. No cards in the mail.

Simple. Personal. Connection.

How it works

Return

Step 1:

Choose the store you bought from

We’ve made returns simple for you with over 200+ partner stores including Amazon, ebay and The Iconic.

Step 2:

Print and attach your returns label

We’ll take care of it all for you, and let the store know the return is on its way.

Step 3:

Drop off your parcel at any Parcelpoint

With 1400 locations around Australia, there should be a Parcelpoint in your neighbourhood, close to home or work.

Get started

Our Values

This is our credo. Our guide. Our promise. Five sets of values we live by, the values we share with our parcel community:

Be bold. Be brave.

Have a go, even if it’s hard, even if it takes us out of our comfort zone. Don’t play safe. Push boundaries. Question the status quo. Challenge things that we can do better. Be confident, but not arrogant. Be tenacious. Be curious. Get creative. Think outside the postbox.

Own it.
Take responsibility. Make it happen. Get it done. Hold yourself accountable. Take initiative. Be tenacious. Have impact, individually and collectively. Stand up and lead. If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

Be agile.
As they say in the classics – just do it. Be fast, be iterative. Speed over deliberation. Don’t wait for perfect, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Try things, experiment. It’s okay to fail – learn from it, and try again. Be the best and being better.

Make it easy.
Easy for everyone. Make it work, simply, for the whole community. Solve a problem. Simplify a process. Make it seamless. Be easy to work with. Make everyone’s experience a happy one.

One team, one tribe.
We must be aligned in our purpose, and our vision. Listen, have empathy, and respect each other. Include, don’t exclude. Connect. Get to know one another. Work as a team. We are a community, a tribe – people, retailers, local communities – we’re all in this together, we’re all part of something bigger than us.

Founding story

The idea for Parcelpoint came one day, quite by accident, by two different people in two different neighbourhoods.

It was 2011, when co-founder Julian checked the mailbox of his apartment building in Bondi to find a “sorry we missed you” card for a book he had bought online.

Cancelling his morning meeting, since the post office was only open during business hours, he queued up in line for quite some time, only to learn that he’d missed his deadline, and the book had been returned to sender, in the US!

It took very nearly another month for the book to come back (again), with a lot of wasted time and frustration, and Julian was profoundly disturbed by the fact that this book had flown three times back and forth and back again across the Pacific, and the impact that had on the planet.

What also stuck with him was the fact that he knew the people in his apartment, two of whom worked nights, and could have taken delivery of the parcel for him, were such a thing possible?

Inspired by the beginnings of the share economy, he conceived the idea of a network of neighbourhood ‘Parcel Champs’, bringing his local community together to help each other make it possible to never miss a parcel again.

His Bondi apartment became the first neighbourhood pickup point, he put the word out, and soon he had a steady stream of happy neighbours popping round after work to get their parcels.

At exactly the same time across the other side of Sydney, co-founder Phil was experiencing similar frustrations, and had come up with very much the same solution – he had convinced his local internet café in Pyrmont to be a pickup point, which he called a ‘Parcelpoint’.

Inevitably, Julian and Phil met up a few months in, and joined forces, gathering together an awesome team to take the Parcelpoint experience to online shoppers all around Australia.