from new england roots to cruising the nile, meet lauris cady, owner atlantic pack and parcel.
Q: Where did you grow up? What did you think you might do for work or as a career?
A: My father was a career Navy submarine captain, so my life started on a navy base in Connecticut. When he retired, his next careers took him to New York and New Hampshire. My family roots are all deep in New England soil. I graduated from Yorktown Heights High School in New York, and my college degrees are in business administration and healthcare administration. I never thought much about what I would do when I was young; I am sure I thought I would be a teacher or a nurse. I knew I wanted to live overseas, so at age 24, I moved to London for several years before I moved to The Hague in Holland for another 10 years. I learned to speak Dutch, served on the committee that built a new school facility for the American School of The Hague, met countless wonderful people, and embraced life in a small Dutch neighborhood where I owned my own fisherman's cottage. My career brought me back to the states in the mid-90s and, ultimately, to Florida. When I moved to South Brevard County, I volunteered at Brevard County Fire Department, which led to working part-time as an emergency medical technician on an ambulance, where I met my husband, Scott. We married in 2000 at the Melbourne Beach Chapel with friends and family and folks from the fire department and emergency services. In fact, our wedding cake topper was not a bride and groom but an ambulance and fire engine.
Q: How many years ago did you begin this business and with whom?
A: My husband, Scott, and I bought the business in February 2011. We knew we were buying an established but failing business, yet we embraced the challenges before us. Buying a business in a small town was always my husband's dream, and we both had childhood memories of small-town general stores in New England with seniors sitting on a big porch, playing checkers and gossiping while the store owners worked at becoming a mainstay in the town.
Q: Tell us about your staff and when did cats join the staff?
A: We like to have a full spectrum of generations working with us. Currently, we have a senior who has been with us for over five years, a full-time manager in his 20s and with us for four years, and other part-timers that work other part time jobs and/or are stay at home moms.
CopyCat and Ms. Fax joined our business in 2012 as rescues. We knew we wanted a cat to live at the store and be more than a typical cat. CopyCat filled that need immediately. Ms. Fax followed her shortly thereafter. They made a pact to be the best store cats possible. They greet customers, take passport photos, and live in the storefront. When they have had enough of people, as cats do, they have plenty of space to escape. These two have become the face of our business and we like that!
Scooter, an eight-month-old kitten, joined us this year. He is named after my husband who passed away earlier this year. Scooter's job has been more challenging as he joins an established business, established cats, and established staff but he has won over the hearts of many. One customer says Scooter helped them through a tough time—imagine that of a store kitten. The cats have been a huge success and we find others who own similar businesses around the country adding cats and/or dogs to their staff to add that element that CopyCat, Ms. Fax, and now Scooter have brought to our business.
Q: Craziest thing you’ve been asked to ship?
A: In ten+ years, we have shipped things you can’t even imagine, including a 500-pound half of a giant clam shell, to a jet ski to the Bahamas, to a vintage roulette wheel, a crystal chandelier the size of Indialantic, frozen fish, frozen ducks, cupcakes and treasured photographs and heirlooms.
Q: Frozen ducks…ugh. Describe your best and worst days at work.
A: The best days are helping those in need of a solution, and we can make it happen for them. With technology today, we love helping those who feel like they have nowhere else to turn. The worst days are packing and shipping family items, disclosing pricing, which can be a shock, and softening the blow by offering part of the service at no cost or small discounts where possible.
Q: You offer a tremendous number of services that are largely hidden unless someone has read that page on your website or is a user of those services. Clearly, you pack and ship items to the four corners of the world. Documents—you scan, copy and fax, but tell us about the other unusual services such as fulfillment and virtual mailbox.
A: I realized early on that we would have to be diverse to survive and we could not depend upon the odd package coming to be packed or shipped. We have evolved and have a menu of services! We offer services to small business owners that need a "back office" such as bookkeeping, typing, basic administrative work or need an address. Fulfillment came about when a resident needed assistance with fulfilling sales beyond what his garage could manage, so now we offer fulfilment services for five small businesses. By our doing fulfillment, the business owner can spend their time on their business while we support our own business.
We have 400+ private mailbox customers, both physically and virtually. A virtual mailbox offers someone safe mail and package delivery (and retention) while they live on a sailboat in New Zealand or are snowbirds. A virtual mailbox offers a business owner just breaking into the US marketplace with an address. A virtual mailbox can serve as your business address while keeping your personal details private. Two of our virtual mailbox customers have in fact led to our fulfillment services for them!
Q: What do you do for fun when you're not Queen of Shipping?
A: I love the beach. I love finding shells and vintage treasure such as a metal lunch box or sand pail. One of my greatest pleasures is finding a theme for the store window and then connecting it to something the business does. At first my store windows were bare and boring, and I can see how they have evolved over the years ...the creativity of it is so fun! Even now I am planning next year's December window! And I like to read!
Q: How many years until retirement and how do you think you’d like to spend it?
A: I have no plans to retire. I like to work too much. I enjoy what I do so why wouldn't I do it? I come from a family of workers—my grandfather worked up till the day he passed away. My father had three separate careers! Atlantic Pack and Parcel is a business that can take me into retirement and maybe I might be that senior playing checkers with a cat in her lap talking town gossip!
Q: Give me one or two bucket list items that came true already and what remains?
A: I have climbed the Pyramids of Giza, I have cruised the Nile, I have trekked the Alps, and shopped at the markets of Istanbul. I hope to walk the Great Wall of China or tread upon the stones of Machu Picchu. I love to travel and experience life in different cultures but, honestly, I love living in a small town. I love getting the wedding dress "there" on time or helping print the memorial cards of a beloved family member. I loved marrying a young couple in our lobby who just wanted to be married with no frills. I love being part of the small business owners and how we support each other when a hurricane is threatening.
I never imagined I would be a small business owner in a small town in all those years and experiences, but I find that I have embraced every challenge. It's truly a joy and honestly quite uplifting. Being a small business owner is not for the faint of heart. Because the small business owners here support each other, not only do we thrive but so does Indialantic.
