“A woman’s mind is cleaner than a man’s: She changes it more often.” — Oliver Herford
mycuppa September 2018 Newsletter
It's spring, and that means the harsh extremities of winter's biting force are starting to temper.
As hard as it is to cope with the freezing weather at 6 am, it's far better for coffee roasters to be cold than hot.
We don't have to run around like crazy men switching on coolers to keep everything stable. Alas, it won't be long before I complain about the heat!
Last month's secret label went wild. So many customers returned for seconds and thirds; seeing such a lovely coffee so well received and enjoyed was pleasing.
This month, we have an African powerhouse as our September secret label. I'm not keen on giving out clues, so the only information is that it's an African, high-grade, and expensive lot offered at a big discount to the market.
Cleanskin pops its head up for another round. At just $17/kg, it's the best value freshly roasted coffee in Australia - get in early as there is a limit.
There's a big bundle of Shipping/Freight changes this month, and we encourage you to read through - Sendle is back, AusPost introduced a fuel levy, and we provide some explanation and helpful tips on how to get the best outcome from Authority To Leave and collection cards.
This month's feature article unpacks certification programs within the coffee industry and argues whether it's really making a difference.
August's secret label proved a big hit with our customers, and receiving so many excellent feedback messages was delightful.
We had more than a ton of that delicious coffee, which meant we could run the campaign for longer, and it was surprising to see customers return for seconds and thirds in the weeks that followed the initial release.
We loved the concept of a secret as it proved customers can purchase without bias, and a big thank you for placing your trust in our hands.
For September's secret label, we have written a blank cheque for a delightful treat - one of the top lots from a well-respected African origin.
OK, so I've let the "region" slip right there (but not the origin), and another clue is it's an expensive lot - but so is everything high grade from Africa, commanding big $$.
You'll likely find coffee of this quality sold through retail channels for less than $50/kilo.
Africa is the home of powerhouse coffees. They punch well above their weight, and the good examples exhibit incredible complexity in the cup.
This current season, the lot is scoring a solid 86 points. Keep in mind that less than 1% of coffees worldwide score over 85 points, and relatively few cafe coffees score over 82 points, with most barely reaching 80 on a good day!
This specialty coffee is rich, rounded, balanced, and incredibly addictive.
Life is too short; treat yourself to something indulgent at just $28/kg; it's a steal.
Buy as much as you want, but as always, with coffee, we still determine how long it will last. At this price, it's a steal.
Cleanskin returnsCleanskin is a program offering fresh roasted coffee at crazy prices.
This month, we have put together a Cleanskin blend of beans from Papua New Guinea and Ethiopia priced at, wait for it, $17/kg.
If we're not mistaken, Cleanskin is perhaps the best value freshly roasted coffee beans in Australia (freshly roasted means coffee roasted within 4 - 32hrs of dispatch)
This combo gives up a rich, creamy body with notes of caramel, milk chocolate, currants and dried fruits. Delicious as a milk-based espresso.
There are no limits; 600 of these 1kg bags are available and will be roasted daily during the campaign.
Only available in whole beans, and once sold, that stealthy Cleanskin will be hidden until its next appearance.
We are about to enter the peak freight season from mid-September to the end of December.
Except for the limited resources in January and Easter, the peak freight season becomes the absolute worst time of the year for all freight across Australia - it's not us, but the combined effects from traditional merchants in their cycle of stocking up inventory for the festive season.
After ten years of seeing gridlock from the volume of parcels in the network jumping by up to 50% (especially late Nov through mid-Dec), we must look at ways to help our customers avoid an already congested system.
We want to reduce customers' frustration waiting for their parcels to arrive.
This month, we have a lot of updates to share, along with explanations and tips to help your parcel transit run smoothly, so please take a moment to read what's changing.
- Sendle is back, and it's much better.
- AusPost are raising prices with their new fuel levy.
- After many customer mistakes in the checkout, we provide some explanations and helpful instructions on how to help ensure your parcel is left at your premises without a signature.
- Waiting for a collection card to be left in your letterbox can be unreliable.
Sendle is back; no, it's not Ground Hog Day.
We have always tried to offer our customers plenty of choices, which also extends to shipping service providers.
It's been seven months since we switched off Sendle due to issues with collections and support.
In that time, Sendle has been listening to its merchants and introducing additional features to facilitate an improved service experience.
Guaranteed collections promise to resolve the primary problem with prompt and regular pickup from our facility.
We have recently enabled Sendle to provide our customers with a fair choice or alternative to AusPost, and it comes at a critical time to help avoid the peak freight season.
Read more about how to get the best out of Sendle here.
AusPost pricing increase - a new 2.4% fuel levyAs predicted last year, AusPost has introduced a new, additional charge to their freight rates called a fuel levy, from 1 September 2018.
Fuel levies have been an annoying blight in the transport and courier industry for decades. Once implemented, they are impossible to remove or eliminate, regardless of the fuel price in Australia.
This is an extra cost on top of their existing rates, raising the cost of their service by a stated 2.4%, but we don't have enough detail at this time to know the full impact across the components making up the charge and therefore, our shipping rates have not changed at this time, but they may change soon once we have more data.
Authority To Leave - are you doing it right?
We have been copping a lot of flack from customers taking the stick to us - accusing us of changing their orders to prevent parcels from being left at the receiver's premises if nobody was in attendance at the time of delivery.
First things first - we don't touch customer order data unless instructed to by the customer separately via email authorisation and confirmation.
We utilise a fully integrated logistics system - whatever the customer defines on the order in checkout automatically carries through to dispatch - no data is touched or handled by humans.
Secondly, it's important to point out the process actually works. We are not interfering with or over-riding preferences - customers do, in fact, have parcels left at their premises, and more than 60% of our customers use this option for their parcel deliveries.
When you progress in the checkout, all orders have the "Authority To Leave Parcel if Receiver Not Available" = NO" as the initial (default) preference.
It's very simple to change this to YES in the checkout, and it's important to understand that if you do not change this value, the parcel will not be left unattended. No instructions will override this setting; please do not rely upon written instructions; in many cases, they are ignored.
Read more about how to use Authority To Leave here.
Collection Cards
Historically, there has been a practice of leaving a collection card at the premises when an attempt to deliver was unsuccessful.
Traditional couriers rely upon this feature to notify them that a parcel is available, and whilst it was also (and should still be) the practice of AusPost, we see a particular trend for AusPost not leaving collection cards.
Parcels will not be stored by freight providers for long - so you must keep checking tracking details.
Parcels not collected within a certain timeframe will be returned to us. We get charged an extra $11 on top of the original freight charge, but more importantly, the return to sender loop runs at a ridiculously slow pace sometimes; it takes 3+ weeks.
Large retailers are treating consumers as fools with meaningless sourcing programs.
I've been disappointed for years how some (not all) coffee industry programs treat elements of the supply chain and, more importantly, the end consumer as complete fools.
Today, we have various competing regimes for FAIRTRADE, Organic and the recently merged toothless tigers known as UTZ/Rainforest Alliance.
In addition to those formal programs, there are many rampant marketing trumpets blown by coffee companies claiming special, exclusive arrangements under the umbrella of Direct Trade relationships.
In truth, these hollow claims are often nothing more than an excuse for an all-expenses-paid junket to foreign soils to top up the vault of carefully staged coffee farm selfies.
We take a look at two different certification programs - first, the commercial aspects of the FAIRTRADE system are dissected, and then we take apart how some of the largest coffee retailers are treating consumers as fools with meaningless certification programs (not FAIRTRADE) claiming sustainable sourcing practices that continue to perpetuate poverty in coffee farming communities.
Read more here.
