Rural convenience: Woolworths Last Mile Delivery service saving remote Aussies up to 16hr grocery runs
Rural Australians who once had to drive up to 16 hours to get their groceries can now have them delivered thanks to the Woolworths Last Mile Delivery.
Having groceries delivered is a luxury city folk take for granted but, for many remote Australians, this convenience has long been out of reach.
In a bid to redefine accessibility, Woolworths partnered with transport companies as part of the Last Mile Delivery team to bring groceries by road, sea and air to communities outside its regular delivery areas.
In Queensland, Woolworths works with Mount Isa’s World Welding and Transport Services to deliver groceries to about 100 customers from Birdsville to Burketown, Normanton and Karumba.
WWATS owner David Graham said they had been helping transport groceries to regional people for two years before the partnership with Woolworths made the process more streamlined.
“Before the partnership was set up we had customers ordering their groceries online and shipping to our depot in Townsville, which we’d then need to unpack and repack into our trucks,” he said.
Groceries are picked up at Woolworths Fairfield Central, where up to 80 boxes of groceries are collected each fortnight for a 900km journey from Townsville to Mount Isa.
“We’re committed to delivering to our customers through rain, hail or shine,” Graham said.
“Even through the devastating floods through central Queensland last year, we were able to find alternate routes to get our deliveries to our customers.
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“It’s really important to make sure we are delivering our products on time, because a missed delivery could mean that they don’t have the fresh food they need for the week.”
Last Mile Delivery general manager Alistair Venn said Woolworths would do their best to deliver groceries “almost anywhere within reason”.
“We’ve heard stories of some of our customers having to drive up to eight hours each way to pick up their groceries, so we’re glad to be able to partner with local carriers to help save our customers time and ensure they can get what they need without the journey,” he said.
Originally published as Rural convenience: Woolworths Last Mile Delivery service saving remote Aussies up to 16hr grocery runs
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