Jenny Brunning, Graeme Mitchell, Gary Langdon, John Wescott and Andrew Cain make up part of Echuca’s postal team.
Photo by
Lua Ikenasio
At the crack of dawn, while most of the town is still asleep, the team at Australia Post’s Echuca Delivery Centre is already in full swing.
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From as early as 4am, the six-person team sorts about 120 pieces of mail and parcels a day for delivery to homes.
Boasting 136 years of experience between them, the team members have seen many changes in the postal industry.
Delivery manager Gary Langdon said the biggest shift had come with the rise of online shopping.
“It has been a major change, especially with the small parcels and the large parcels,” he said.
“We have had a massive increase ... especially during peak.
“Our mail volumes have dropped away, which is a bit unfortunate, but our small parcels for our posties to deliver have increased significantly.”
Graeme Mitchell sorts packages to be delivered.
Photo by
Lua Ikenasio
During the 2025 peak in November and December, posties across Australia delivered a record-high 111 million parcels to 7.9 million Australian households who shopped online, an increase of 7.6 per cent from the previous year.
In Echuca alone, about 11,000 small parcels were delivered in December — around 4000 more than usual.
Large parcel deliveries were even higher, reaching about 33,000 for the month, which is about 10,000 more than in any other month.
The centre’s delivery area covers Echuca, Echuca Village, Echuca West and Echuca South, and continues to expand in step with Echuca’s ongoing growth.
Mr Langdon said posties closely tracked new developments to ensure expanding neighbourhoods were included in delivery rounds.
“There’s a lot of growth in Echuca, especially out west,” he said.
“You see the new developments ... and that dictates to us how volumes increase and how our rounds are structured.”
John Wescott hard at work.
Photo by
Lua Ikenasio
From letters to packages, pushbikes to three-wheeler electric vehicles, and one warehouse to two, the Echuca Delivery Centre team has adapted as the industry evolves.
Mr Langdon said the experienced team took all the changes in stride.
“The guys are pretty used to change,” he said.
“A lot of the guys (have) been around for a long time and know their jobs really well and do their jobs really well and know a fair bit about the town.
“We’ve got a really good team of posties.”
To help the team work more efficiently, residents are encouraged to download the MyPost app.
Through the app, residents can track their packages and be notified directly if they miss a delivery.
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