Perth Opens 1st 24/7 Post Office

Western Australia opened its first 24/7 post office in Perth on Tuesday in response to the growing demand for parcel delivery services from items ordered online.

The rise in parcel deliveries ordered from e-commerce stores spawned a demand for the new postal superstores which allow Australians to pick up their packages anytime of the time as well as other services such as applying for a new or renewing old driver's licences, online shopping, money exchange and booking tours.

The Perth has 52 parcel lockers which clients could access anytime. The post office will initial send them an email or text message to alert them of the arrival of a parcel.

With the service, Australia is the first among postal offices around the world to beat the continuous decline in regular mails as people shift to email and other forms of technology to send messages. However, the post office tapped, rather than fought technology by the opening of 30 24/7 mailing superstores across Australia.

Aussies have shifted their shopping habits with 10 million now shopping online, which caused a 22 per cent rise in parcel volumes handled by Australia Post in the past year.

The Perth station, located on St George's Terrace, is the only one that offers driver's licence application and renewal facility in Australia on a 24/7 basis. It features also a digital essential zone which allows visitors to shop online using their Apple laptops and iPads.

The centre's other tenants include Harvey World Travel, American Express which offers currency exchange facility and a concierge for customer assistance.

"We're trying to link that digital economy to hit the physical world, that's what's changing our environment.... We've been around for over 200 years and we don't plan on going anywhere soon," Yahoo News quoted Paul Lecher, manager of Australia Post in WA.

He added, more similar 24/7 centres will open in 2012 in Rockingham, West Perth and Cannington as the post office handles at least 70 per cent of parcel volume from online orders.

In contrast, postal offices in the U.S. are shutting down due to the decline in mail volume. The American postal office is battling the drop in volume by waging a campaign against emails, which it warned could contain virus while snail mail is virus-free.