“It's not what's under the Christmas tree that matters, it's who is around it.”  — unknown.

 

mycuppa December 2020 Newsletter

It's nearing the end of a crazy year when each week presented us with unpredictable surprises.

In every regard, 2020 produced our finest-ever performances despite extreme conditions - the sheer capacity and speed we executed during the incredible surges in orders, at times spiking over 300% during lockdowns, was tempered with many painful wounds from intolerable transit delays caused by persistent heavy congestion in Australia's parcel networks.

From running out of coffees, packaging, cartons, and labels, a bad injury, commissioning new packaging equipment, upgrading our power and operating in restrictive COVID-safe mode, our fantastic team has continued to work non-stop every day, weekend and public holiday since February to keep up and more importantly stay ahead of the surging demand for quality coffee in the home.

We proudly maintained a 99.8% same-day dispatch performance record, even throughout the strict Stage 4 Melbourne lockdown restrictions. There were many moments earlier this year when coffee seemed to be hoarded, like toilet paper, masks and sanitiser.

Despite everything, we did it. We never let our customers down.

Decaf

We sell a lot of Decaf; on a pure ratio basis (Non-Decaf to Decaf), we are probably roasting more Decaf than just about any other coffee company in Australia.

It may have shocked some of our regular Decaf lovers to discover we have run out of our unique and exclusive Colombian Decaf lot.

It's only a temporary situation. New lots will arrive in the next week after being delayed more than two months due to pandemic problems at origin and sea freight disruption.

But please don't worry; we have a stunning Mountain Water decaf that is also certified Organic to satisfy your un-caffeinated cravings.

So impressed are we with this new Mountain Water Organic decaf. We intend to retain Mountain Water Organic as a "keeper", so it will remain a permanent offering in our store when the new lot of special Colombian Decaf arrives, providing our loyal Decaf customers with a choice of 2 exceptional lots.

Secret Label

December's Secret Label is a richly-infused, sticky-date pudding lot with syrupy notes of caramel, almond and nougat, a hint of stewed fruit and that trademark mycuppa sweet candy long chocolate finish.

The decision to blend these coffees was a no-brainer – some of our fave, and we loved how the coffees worked together in a classic symphony of sweetness.

Xmas parcel arrival guidelines

AusPost has been on the front foot early this year, helping merchants and their customers understand the anticipated cut-off dates for orders to arrive in time for Xmas.

December 12th keeps popping up as an essential date - so please take the advice and get your orders in on time or risk disappointment with parcels not arriving before Xmas.

So now is the critical week, folks, especially if you are interstate or in remote areas; please get your orders in soon.

There continues to be way too much freight moving in parcel networks - unlike any previous years, it's more than double, and delays are unfortunately inevitable, especially since the late November spikes from Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still clogging the networks.

Xmas & New Year Trading Hours

Our mycuppa store will remain open to accept orders 24/7 between Xmas and New Year.

We plan to run operations most days between Xmas and New Year, but we will reduce our workforce as the team is utterly exhausted from working non-stop all year.

There are a few essential points with shipping services around Xmas and New Year, so we kindly ask our customers to keep these in mind.

• We can only dispatch parcels on days that freight providers physically collect from us. Currently, we do not have any committed schedules from our providers, so we assume each working day – as a minimum, AusPost will run the entire program.
• Freight collections around the holiday periods may occur at odd times - they might randomly turn up quite early in the day without warning, especially on Xmas and New Year's Eve, so please be aware this is outside of our control, and if you order comes in after the collection, it will undoubtedly go in the next run.
• In the past, some of Sendle's partners have been unreliable in collections around the Xmas and New Year period, so we may choose to switch off Sendle if we need help collecting parcels temporarily. We do this to protect against the risk of stranded packages. 
• You can expect slower freight transit times during Xmas and New Year, particularly into the first two weeks in January. We will get your parcel on the road quickly. However, there will be reduced resource levels working in the freight companies as many freight delivery staff take leave.

And finally, a special mention to our lovely customers who sent through inspiring messages of support during the year in those dark and difficult moments when we faced almost insurmountable challenges – your faith and good wishes genuinely made a difference and helped enormously – thank you.