Mall post office replaces Bakery Hill outlet

A NEW post office will open in Ballarat’s Bridge Mall in February, replacing the existing Bakery Hill outlet.

Australia Post announced the new outlet just before Christmas, describing it as deepening its long-term investment in the city.

To be known as the Ballarat Central Post Office, the facility will feature a flexible, scalable design with a smaller physical footprint and a highly-efficient back-of-house setup to manage increased parcel volumes.

It follows the opening two years ago of Australia Post’s state-of-the-art parcel delivery centre in Ballarat, which processes up to 12,000 parcels a day.

The organisation said there will be no change to services during the relocation from the Bakery Hill Business Centre in Humffray Street North to the Bridge Mall.

All PO boxes will be relocated with no change to their numbers, keys or address, although there may be “minimal temporary service interruption” before the new outlet opens.

It will offer a suite of services including parcel delivery, financial services like Bank@Post, identification services, and a variety of retail items such as business supplies, stationery and core products.

Free 24-hour parcel lockers will be installed and will also support returns, allowing users to drop off pre-paid packages by following merchants’ instructions.

Australia Post’s retail operations general manager, Kate Foley, said the investment in Ballarat reflected the organisation’s commitment to improving services to the public.

“We’re focused on making it easier for locals and businesses to access the services they need – when and how it suits them,” she said.

“This post office has been designed with efficiency and simplicity in mind, while supporting the growing demand for parcel services.”

Ms Foley said Australia Post will keep customers updated and will issue advice about any disruptions that will take place during the changeover.