30 | Connect PACK & SEND PENRITH- CELEBRATING 15 YEARS PACKING AND SENDING!
THE YEAR WAS 1994 AND WITH A YOUNG FAMILY, AS WELL AS ESTABLISHED CAREER PATHS IN BOTH THE FOOD AND HAIRDRESSING INDUSTRIES, GREG AND MARGARET MCKAY DECIDED THAT IF THEY WERE TO KEEP THEIR DREAM ALIVE AND TAKE THE STEP INTO OWNING THEIR OWN BUSINESS, THE TIME HAD ARRIVED TO DO IT. AND IN FEBRUARY, 1995, WITH ONLY FIVE OTHER STORES IN THE NETWORK, PACK & SEND PENRITH OPENED ITS DOORS. Greg recalls the PACK & SEND network in its infancy. “The concept was very new in the market place,” he said. “In those days there were only a hand full of stores which did prove to be a challenge when you needed something picked up or packed from or to other locations, but the camaraderie was excellent because we all worked together.” The early days of business also relied more heavily on basic resources. “In the early days we operated on using two feet and a heartbeat and getting out there.” Today, even though the same applies, there is also the support of modern technology including email, web quotes, track and trace, and so much more. Although it was not originally Greg and Margaret’s intention to have the children involved in the business, time was soon to say otherwise. With Wade aged 14; Evan, 9; and Sarah, 7 – the McKay children were quick to learn. “From day one, they were and still are in some way, involved in the business as the business was always spoken about all of the time,” said Greg. “On a regular basis, after school and sometimes on school holidays, they would stay at the rear of the shop either doing homework or asking many questions, helping us pack and learning about customer service and business in general.” Those early days of exposure to the family business were to teach the McKay children many things, including how to set and achieve business as well as personal goals. Proof of this today, says Greg, can be seen in their now grown children: Wade, who is 30 and has been fully employed with PACK & SEND Penrith for the past 12 years; Evan who worked in the family business for seven years and is now a manager for one of PACK & SEND International’s corporate stores; and Sarah who worked part time in the family business until she completed her fashion degree and now works full time as a graphic designer. Looking back over the years, one of the McKays more memorable jobs began with their fi rst: a very heavy and solid steel safe which, for some unknown reason, Greg remembers bubble wrapping. Nonetheless, they achieved the delivery expectation by sending it via a direct same day courier - all to the amazement of the new customer and for which they still have the sales receipt! Among the list of PACK & SEND Penrith’s long standing clients are artists, individuals, large and small companies, and military and government agencies. One of their most unforgettable, says Greg, is the long term negotiation they had with the Sydney Olympic Committee regarding the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games – ‘Remains of the Games’. This very complex job involved Australian and international pick up, warehousing and distribution, including additional Olympic on-site auctions of props, vehicles, sports equipment, white goods, lighting and staging for companies and private individuals. Items of Olympic signifi cance chosen by the IOC – which were warehoused, packed and air freighted – are now on display at the sports museum at the IOC HQ Lucerne, Switzerland. Over the years, PACK & SEND Penrith was often called to assist with the concept, design and manufacture of small and large scale military transport containers that sometimes were requested off the plan but were more often not available at the time so were made from scratch. These containers were then drawn, manufactured and profi led by the McKays, then delivered and packed on military sites. This included specialised containers to a length of six metres long and over two metres high which were internally profi led to cradle the items contained for military aircraft use. They contained expensive items such as fuselage, wing, tail sections and other components. Other naval projects included the salvaging, packing and air freighting to the UK of over A$1M of sensitive sonar equipment from the stricken British Naval ship HMS Nottingham which ran aground off the eastern Australian coast in 2002. Organisations that also benefi ted from PACK & SEND Penrith’s logistics and packaging solutions were Australian based and international movie and fi lm props companies including well known studios movies and associated businesses. PACK & SEND Penrith has also enjoyed recognition through a number of awards: notably, being voted as fi nalist at the NSW State Government’s Western Sydney Industry Awards – International Business category. Looking back over those past 15 years, Greg and Margaret have seen and experienced many changes, including relocating to bigger premises to cope with growing customer demand. In that time, not only have the McKays built a successful PACK & SEND franchise store, they’ve also built up a wealth of information, created some priceless memories and taught their family how to work and strive together as well as provided their children with a string of tools to set and achieve both business and personal goals. So congratulations Margaret and Greg – on 15 years of admirable achievement! 31