Let’s give a big warm Flinders welcome to Mia and Andy – our friendly and helpful new Bedford Park campus post office managers!
The pair left jobs in China’s petroleum industry to migrate to Adelaide in 2023 and have not looked back.
“I love being around young people and working in this fantastic location with views of the sea and city,” says Andy, a former engineer.
Mia, a former senior manager, agrees: “I love my life here. It helps me pretend I’m still young!”
Since taking over the campus post office in mid-January, the pair have been on a steep learning curve.
“We have changed what we sell and how we sell it,” says Andy. “We have adopted more student-friendly prices, and no minimum EFTPOS spend as a result of customer feedback.”
Mia and Andy offer post boxes for correspondence. “Students may not realise that having a PO Box provides them with a consistent address for letters and parcels,” says Mia. “This is important if students move house during their studies at Flinders.”
As well as providing usual post office products and services, the post office is also a place to have documents witnessed, update your passport, transfer money with Western Union and pick up an international plug adapter for appliances that don’t fit Australian electricity sockets.
“Our most popular purchases are Metro Cards and Metro Card recharging, but we also have notebooks and pads, lab coats, stationery, gift cards, diaries, umbrellas and drink bottles,” says Mia.
Andy and Mia say it’s important for them to connect with international students and offer a bilingual service for students who speak Mandarin. “We know it can be hard to find the right English words sometimes,” says Andy. “We think we’re getting the hang of running the post office now, and we invite everyone to come into to say G’Day and tell us how we can help you.”
The post office is located in the Plaza at the Bedford Park campus (between the pharmacy and Campus Community Exchange). Refer to H8 on the campus map.
Part time job opportunity
Andy and Mia are looking for a student to join them in the post office, so if you have customer service experience and are looking for a long-term, stable part-time job (especially during holidays), please pop in to see them.