Melbourne-based dog food company Scratch is $150,000 out of pocket, due to shipping delays by Australia Post.

The company started noticing problems in July and began alerting existing customers to order sooner if their food was running low.

Mike Halligan, Scratch Co-Founder, said it has been the hardest few months of their business since launching in 2018.

“All in all, it’s cost us over $150,000, from upgrading all of our shipping to express on their encouragement (which was no faster), to replacing orders long-lost in a system (there were plenty), to moving to a courier once Australia Post said they wouldn’t pick up at all (they were no better), to now having to do our own deliveries (because we were left with no other choice).”

Halligan said that’s not including the customer service overtime they put in, or the future customers they’ve lost because they couldn’t deliver to their usual standards.

With orders taking three to five weeks to arrive, Halligan and the team decided to set-up their own delivery service.

“Within 48 hours of making the decision, we hired our own vans and drivers, set up our own depots around the state, coded up delivery software and have been delivering all of our Melbourne orders ourselves.”

This decision is currently costing Scratch double what their typical fulfilment costs are, but they see it as a worthwhile investment.

“It’s important that we get dogs their food and meet our promise to customers of doing everything we can for them. We’re subscription only so we view that as an unspoken contract for us to look after their dog no matter what.”