“The perfect love affair is one which is conducted entirely by post.” – George Bernard Shaw

One of the drawbacks to living in Hebden Bridge is its remoteness. As you can imagine, big business doesn’t usually set up here due to its location. My small business can hardly expect to survive without a little help then. We’re posting more and more these days. When we started it out myself and a helper used to just literally carry our products to small shops and offices in the city centre, but since more people heard about us we have met demand to post things further afield. The increased business was why we had to start looking at new internet options too, it wasn’t enough just to work on pen and paper any more.

So I have decided to start investigating some parcel delivery services. This website I’ve found is particularly useful as it looks like I’ll be able to compare the rates of various companies and pick the best one with which to send my wares. I’m kind of looking forward to it launching properly so I can check it out fully. I’m not expecting to become a millionaire by sending fruit around the UK, but I am hoping little factors like this help me set up a decent living for myself (and the cats!).

However, running a foodstuffs business by post isn’t as simple as sticking some jars in a package and going to the post office. I need to consider storage and how my products will be packaged in order to maximise interest and keep rates affordable for the clients. I don’t know how I’d feel about taking on more staff but it may be that if things go well I won’t have a choice!

All this talk of delivery and the post reminds me of the great joy I felt as a child when I received care packages from my grandma. They always contained something knitted, something to eat and something to read. My grandma could knit the most beautiful woollen scarves you’d ever see – I still have the red and cream one she sent when I was 15. Naturally, and like her daughter before me, I have taken on the mantle of Chief Thimbler in The Stark Clan, but I’m afraid I have a long way to go before I reach her level of talent.

On the subject of the post and deliveries, I’ll leave you this cheeky quote taken from one of the letters of my favourite writer, Jane Austen:

“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” – Jane Austen

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 11:25 am and is filed under My Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.