Postal Connections celebrating 20 years in Merced
Twenty years can fly by, especially for a successful business.
But for a small local business owner like Kris Chinnock, two decades of serving the community is quite an accomplishment — a testimony to dedication, resilience and support from those around her.
“We wouldn’t be here without our customers, who are actually more like family to us, and of course, all the great employees we have had over the years,” Chinnock told the Times.
Richard and Kris Chinnock opened the Postal Connections store on Oct. 26, 2005. It was one of the first stores at The Promenade, a premiere shopping and dining destination to serve a growing North Merced. It’s located at the corner of Paulson Road and Yosemite Avenue,
The Postal Connections franchise offers shipping, packing and notary services, along with printing, faxing, scanning, laminating, and private mailbox rentals. The store also has an area for small gift items, novelties and greeting cards.
It was Richard’s idea at first. He had been looking for a business to buy. Kris was a bookkeeper at the time over at N&S Tractor, and knew little about the shipping business.
“How are you going to make money?” she asked her husband.
On their opening day, only two customers came in the door.
And, well, that’s how they started. They grew the business from there.
Richard was the main driving force behind the business, and he ran the store with passion for the first three years, until his untimely death in 2008.
One can only imagine what that must have been like for Kris.
“What am I going to do?” she remembers asking herself at the time.
With the help of a few employees and loyal customers, and the guidance of another shipping store owner in Modesto, Kris picked up the pieces and became a full-fledged businesswoman.
“I’ve had good people around me for the last 20 years,” she said. “Good people who have worked for me and have carried me through.”
Kris learned the shipping business, inside and out, and watched how the industry has grown and changed, year after year.
“People started printing out their own shipping labels at home, and now they’re going to QR codes, which we are getting into as well,” she explained. “Things have become a lot better for the customer.”
Today Kris is helped by a few longtime employees, including Hillary Rollins and Kaitlyn Gaddess.
Rollins says her favorite part of the job is the “connection with the community, and getting to meet so many different people from all walks of life.”
Gaddess agrees: “It’s the customers for sure. You get kind of close to them through conversations. They come in and chat, and you start to learn about their lives.”
Kris concludes that Postal Connections has been a very good business for the community, as well as herself, personally, all in all.
“Look at us now, after 20 years,” she says with a smile. “It still pays the bills. And it’s taking care of me.”
Postal Connections would like to invite the community to its 20th Anniversary Celebration and Customer Appreciation Day inside the store on Oct. 29. They will have balloons, cookies, giveaways and other treats. Drawings for raffle prizes will be at noon.
“Anyone shipping with us over the next two weeks will be put in the drawings,” Kris said. “Come celebrate with us, so we can say: Thank You.”
See the original article published in the Merced County Times:
https://mercedcountytimes.com/postal-connections-celebrating-20-years-in-merced/