Profile Of North Augusta Franchisees

NORTH AUGUSTA (Thursday, April 20, 2006) - Azaleas, dogwoods and wisteria haven't been the only things blossoming over the past few weeks in North Augusta. Jim and Dee Struchen, local residents since 1989, have brought another small business into fruition.
Their operation, Goin' Postal, is relatively small, but they are definitely playing with the big boys: United Parcel Service, Federal Express, DHL and the U.S. Postal Service.
It's a major shift of career gears for the couple. Jim, like hundreds of other local citizens, is on the rebound from a position at the Savannah River Site, where he worked for Bechtel for 25 years in the engineering branch, as a piping designer, in computer-assisted drafting and design.
Dee had worked at Bechtel in the early '80s, before becoming a mom and getting on board with Grace United Methodist Church, where she helped operate the child-development center. Over the past six years, she has been working from their home, in the Greenbriar neighborhood, doing medical transcriptions.
Jim commented on making the leap into small business. "Dee and I have been talking about doing this since probably about 1995. Originally, we were thinking about Mail Boxes Etc., but that was bought out by UPS, so ... we were watching what was going to happen there, with the down-sizing going on at SRS and the packages being offered."

Goin' Postal, in particular, entered the picture by way of a little computer research.
"We just happened to find this on an Internet search," he said. "We sat down and talked about it for several months before we did it. I retired in October. We took training in February. We paid for our franchise at the end of December, went down to Florida in February and we opened up March 15th."
The operation is "more of a neighborhood shipping center," Dee noted. "We always have goodies on the counter for everybody, and there's coffee ... We're not just ‘get-you-in and get-you-out.' We will get you in and out in a timely manner, but if you want to stand around and talk, that's fine, too."
Jim pointed out that the business' shipping services aren't just a matter of receiving and sending. The Struchens are also wrap artists.
"We do packing. A lot of places, you have to have your stuff boxed up. Our customers can come in with their Wal-Mart bags or whatever else, and we'll take it in the back and wrap it, if it's fragile, and we'll box it and put in bubble-wrap and peanuts and get the right package for them and weigh it and ship it."

The Struchens' menu also includes faxing, copying, mailbox rentals, cards, office supplies and an assortment of gift items, ranging from desktop flags (South Carolina, Georgia and the U.S.A, in various combinations) to pens shaped like miniature pink flamingoes.
He also commented on the difference between Goin' Postal and some similar operations. The franchise, he said, tries to keep the costs as low as possible in terms of doing business with the four shipping giants — three private corporations as well as one quasi-governmental agency.
Getting things rolling has been a challenge, but not an outright ordeal, he said.
"People ... try to warn you and say, ‘Oh, you don't know what you're getting into,' and stuff like that, but taking that into consideration, it's been a lot easier than I thought it was going to be."
The major milestones, he said, were the purchase itself, the training process, building the physical facility and promoting the business.
"Me and my friend, who happens to be a carpenter, we're the ones who actually built this. We didn't have contractors come in."
The carpenter, in this case, was Keith Walls, from Belvedere.
"We're not in debt," Jim said. "We own this — everything that's in here — and we do not owe any creditors."
By handling so much of the work themselves, the Struchens saved about $90,000, Jim estimated.

They also get some moral support from their two daughters: Tammy, a nursing student at Aiken Technical College; and Amanda, 16, a sophomore at North Augusta High School. Family time often means traveling together, which is a sweet situation in terms of North Augusta being within a relatively short distance of beaches and mountains alike, Jim noted.
On the local map, their new base of operations is at Georgia and Marion avenues, in Ash Center. Goin' Postal is sandwiched between Artistic Floral Creations and More by April, on the left, and Advanced Accounting and Tax Services, on the right.
Jim pointed out that the company itself is based in Zephyrhills, Fla., near Tampa. "There's 155 so far. The company's about two years old, planning on 250 stores a year, and we're shooting for 2,000," he said.
In the meantime, the Struchens have some exclusive turf in the land of Lookaway Hall, Hammond's Ferry and Murphy Village.
"We cover from the Georgia/South Carolina border up to halfway between here and Aiken, and a little bit to Edgefield and a little bit past Highway 1."
The nearest other Goin' Postal is in Augusta, on Washington Road. South Carolina's nearest unit is in Columbia.

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