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<\/p>\n
The centre also handles parcels bound for destinations in an area stretching from Ballan to Kaniva and surrounds.<\/p>\n
Facility manager Tim Gallagher said posties might once have delivered about 3000 articles a day, but as physical letters and similar items became less common they now average between 400 and 500 a day.<\/p>\n
“So if you’ve got 1800 houses (on a run) you’d stop at every house,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Now if you’ve only got 400 letters and you’ve got 1800 houses, you’re riding past houses.<\/p>\n
“You don’t have the volume.”<\/p>\n
Mr Gallagher said that was why posties were now delivering small parcels along with items like letters.<\/p>\n
In the main parcel section of the building, a state-of-the-art sorting machine known as a ModSort flexible sorter feeds parcels into specific containers \u2013 including “forward” items bound for areas outside the Ballarat catchment.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Those are transported overnight for ultimate loading and delivery by contractors in other areas.<\/p>\n Mr Gallagher said the automated parcel sorting machine was the first of its kind operating in Australia and was installed at the Ballarat facility as a trial.<\/p>\n He said the growth in parcels averaged between 15 and 18 per cent a year, growth that he agreed was primarily due to the explosion in online shopping.<\/p>\n Australia Post estimates that Australians spent a record $69 billion online last year. If the organisation is the nominated carrier, it must have ways of getting those items to the buyers.<\/p>\n That is why the facility was built.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mr Gallagher said between 10,000 and 12,000 parcels passed through the centre each day \u2013 up to 8000 of which are delivered in Ballarat.<\/p>\n Each local parcel contractor has up to 200 items on board each day.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/07\/20250714_161056_60729.jpg\")
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