Pack & Send – finding what you love and working at it!

Sarah Stowe

After a few years with a franchise recruitment company, working on the Pack & Send account, Shane Cole soon gave up sharing the various benefits of the logistics and freight franchise with others and decided to buy one for himself.

“I fell in love with the company,” Shane admits. “They’re a genuine bunch of people.”

Shane started his Pack & Send franchise with his wife, Sally, in 2004, and, within five years, was selected from the network as Pack & Send’s Australian Franchisee of the Year for 2009.

“It’s always nice to get a pat on the back for putting in an effort,” says Shane.

But most of all, says Shane, his number one delight has been learning that he and Sally can work together!

“Sally and I have skills in particular areas which complement each other. WeÕve learned many things and others have been reinforced during our time with Pack & Send. The major point is meeting customer expectations,” he explains.

“We’ve also learned to use the strength of the group in all areas; there are many franchisees with a wide range of experience not only in the practicalities of packing, but marketing and running the business in general.”

Packages with a difference

Shane particularly enjoys the challenge of working through the process of packing the more complicated jobs, such as a large stuffed peacock with its beautiful tail feathers spread out in full display. With no urgency for the job, Shane admits he lost count of the times he walked past the bird, pondering the best way to pack it. Eventually the stuffed bird found itself secured to a base, bubble wrapped and surrounded by flo-pack, sitting in a custom-made box measuring around two metres long, one and a half metres high and 40cm wide.

The second job’s complexity was altogether different, seeing Shane examine options with his client on how to best pack and send over half a million dollars in parts to Geneva for the biggest scientific experiment in the world: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This is an energy particle accelerator that lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres in circumference and as deep as 175 metres beneath the Franco-Swiss border.

“It’s great how exposure through the business broadens your interests,” says Shane, who has been following the Hadron Collider’s progress ever since.

Ironically, Shane says, winning the award has made them re-focus on the business and the way they operate.

As a result, the Coles continued their path of success, by being recognised as the best in Victorian franchising in 2010 at the Franchise Council of Australia’s Victorian Regional Awards — crowned the VIC/TAS Franchisee of the Year.