Our Story – Page 2 – iDeliver Freight Limited

iDeliver’s humble beginnings came about in the hands of Paul Love and Stephen Carr, both Waipara and Amberley locals. We hit the ground running back in December 2013 with a Toyota Hiace van, and Paul with his infectious personality, delivering smiles, and parcels, to and from North Canterbury and Christchurch in what was back then a single run, Amberley > Christchurch > Amberley.

Word got out and soon one run a day turned to two then three. As the big market players were pulling back their services, Paul pushed on, with the inability to say no, making the impossible possible day after day.

Then along came our second driver, and a second van was purchased – a fleet in the making! Paul and the new driver built momentum adding Rangiora, Kaiapoi, and surrounds to the areas serviced multiple times daily. With tight timetables and a clear game plan, the pair had the fastest turnaround from Christchurch to Rangiora return.

A couple of years go by and Paul wanted to grow the business some more, so three further vans were purchased and we welcomed Pip and Jackson to the iDeliver family leaving one van spare and at the ready. The runs were rejigged with form and precision, making it more of a challenge for our competition. There was one competitor who was dead in our sights and along came the opportunity to acquire them with one bite.

In March 2020 iDeliver acquired Rangiora Couriers and their team of 6. The excitement, planning, and understanding stage were short-lived as 3 and a bit weeks later New Zealand was in full-scale lockdown due to an outbreak of COVID-19.

In fear of losing everything, Stephen and Paul reached out to every pharmacy, supermarket as well as several vegetable farms and retailers to offer our services, aiming to keep our new team of 10 employed. While we hoped to pick up some work, enough to share amongst the team who wanted to deliver, we were not quite ready for the 20,000+ food/Vege boxes we delivered under level 4. This was over and above a skeleton crew delivering essential goods across our entire delivery network.

From Ashburton to Omihi the network now covered, with newfound technology sought and discovered, new timetables and routes put into action, and with two new vans added to the fleet, Ashburton saw new frequency which could not be beat.

New opportunities arose to take on part of Highway Couriers database, and Timaru was added to the network, as well as newfound relationships ticked off Leeston and Darfield areas too!

Look out Canterbury, iDeliver is coming to a town near you!

COVID-19 – NZ moves to Alert Level 1

Jun 08

With NZ officially being COVID-19 free in 75 days brings great relief as the country moves to Alert Level 1, and business returns to normal operations and all staff move back to standard runs. Looking back over the lockdown, iDeliver has delivered in excess of 20,000 food boxes (predominantly fresh vegetables and meat) over Level 4 & 3 alone. While most businesses went into hibernation iDeliver also welcomed Ethan, Lauren, Garry, and Madi to the iDeliver team. Ethan started in Level 4 after being made redundant in the building industry, and returned to later in Level 2. This took the team to 14 as we moved into Level 1

COVID-19 – NZ drops to Alert Level 2

May 13

As New Zealand drops a level to Alert Level 2 to combat the outbreak of COVID-19, more of the team are allocated back to standard operation leaving small team of food box deliverers are the numbers of boxes are set to reduce with the opening of all stores.

COVID-19 – NZ moves to Alert Level 3

Apr 27

As New Zealand drops a level to Alert Level 3 to combat the outbreak of COVID-19, iDeliver welcomes our regular business clients back operating under a click and collect model. Vast numbers of food boxes are set to continue, putting the team under enormous pressure. The team is split in two, with one division servicing our standard runs and client base, while the other team is dedicated to food box deliveries.

COVID-19 – NZ moves to Alert Level 4

Mar 25

As New Zealand moves to Alert Level 4 to combat the outbreak of COVID-19, iDeliver is approved to operate as an essential service. The business transitions overnight from a predominantly business-to-business courier service to a deliverer of essential food and pharmacy deliveries to homes.

We welcomed Suzie

Mar 18

We welcomed Suzie to the team. This takes the team to 12

iDeliver acquires Rangiora Couriers

Mar 02

iDeliver acquires Rangiora Couriers, and welcomes Steph, Darrell, Liz, Gina, Cory and Vicki to the iDeliver team. This bought our team to 11

Delivering again this Christmas

Dec 09

iDeliver was super proud to support the Kaiapoi Christmas Carnival & Santa Parade on Saturday, and the Rangiora Santa Parade on Sunday!

We added to our floats this year, adding a Grinch, who was riding the Christmas Tree.

Paul, Stephen, Bronya, Jackson, Pip, Lauren & George had a blast seeing all the smiles on the kid’s faces, as you can see in the photos below.

Exhibiting at the NC Business Expo

Oct 12

Paul, Bronya, Jackson and Stephen manned the stand at the North Canterbury Business Expo held at the Rangiora New Life School

Launched our 0800 Number – 0800 433 548

Sep 03

We secured 0800 iDeliver (0800 433 548) after a lengthy process with many attempts to get the number released from the previous owner who was no longer using it.

Farewell Amanda

Aug 31

We farewelled Amanda, who has left to go back out on her own again

Living Wage Accredited!!!

Jul 22

Here at iDeliver, we strive to look for new ways to continue providing the best possible service we can to our customers, while being a fair and ethical employer creating an environment that is fun, fast-paced and challenging.

Time and time again our customers commend us on the fantastic service we offer, which both Paul and I could not maintain without our amazing drivers! It was, for this reason, why iDeliver adopted the Living Wage and has successfully become an Accredited Living Wage Employer (see www.livingwage.org.nz for more information).

Delivering the best service possible is only part of our mission. Striving to better the lives of the people we are privileged to employ is equally important as we strongly believe you can’t achieve one without the other!

We are excited to be the first employer in the New Zealand Transport Industry to become an accredited employer and want to challenge our competitors to follow in our footsteps.

We welcome Jackson

Jul 08

We welcome Jackson to the team. This takes the team to 5

We welcome Pip

Jun 03

We welcome Pip to the team. This takes the team to 4

iDeliver & 5 Star Express Couriers Merge

Apr 29

iDeliver Freight Limited is delighted to announce that we have entered into a definitive merger agreement with 5 Star Express Couriers Limited, a provider of urgent courier services to Christchurch.

This merger will absorb 5 Star Express Couriers into iDeliver Freight Limited’s existing business, and both Stephen Carr & Paul Love (Directors) are excited to welcome Amanda, 5 Star Express Couriers and 5 Stars customers to the iDeliver family

The day of terror

Mar 15

New Zealand’s darkest day – 51 innocent souls lost their lives in an act of terrorism in Christchurch at Linwood Islamic Centre’s mosque and Masjid Al Noor mosque.

Santa is coming to town

Dec 12

iDeliver was super proud to support the Kaiapoi Christmas Carnival & Santa Parade!

We’d love to give a huge shout out to the team at Kaiapoi Promotions Association Inc who pulled off this amazing event!

The iDeliver team managed to build not one but two float entries for the parade amidst the crazy build up to Christmas.

Paul, Stephen & Pip had a blast as you can see in the photos below.

Exhibiting at the NC Business Expo

Sep 22

Paul and Stephen manned the stand at the North Canterbury Business Expo held at the Rangiora Baptist Church

Early Bird run

Mar 19

Paul established an early bird run from Christchurch back into Amberley, taking our total runs to 3 each week day.

Online booking is here

Jan 08

iDeliver introduces online pickup/delivery booking via our website, www.ideliver.co.nz. This booking method was added in addition to phone and texting

And then there were two!

Nov 27

After Paul grew from a single run to 3 runs a day, and no more hours in the day to grow alone, we welcomed a second driver to team iDeliver

Waiau Earthquake – 7.8 magnatude

Nov 14

North Canterbury was rocked by a 7.8 magnatude earthquake centered in Waiau, 60kms north of our home base in Waipara.

The damage to roading and rail infrastructure saw State Highway 1 closed for 13 months, and had all vehicles detoured inland via State Highway 7, adding significant delays to all freight movements along the route.

While our day-to-day operation was not hugely impacted, many of our clients and freight partners were.

2 year….. Where did that go?

Dec 01

2 years went by with the blink of an eye. Check out the awesome cake the team at Just Desserts whipped up for the occasion

Move to ASB

Oct 27

Our owners, Stephen Carr & Paul Love successfully purchased their first home, and as part of the transition iDeliver is moved banking services from BNZ to ASB

New beginnings

May 05

With the amazing work from Amber and the team at Rangiora Toyota, iDeliver took delivery of our new Jumbo Hiace, sign written and road-ready! She is a touch bigger than the old girl

The big crash!

Mar 17

St Patricks day 2014 Paul was involved in a head-on collision (not at fault) in Rangiora. He was very lucky to have walked away from this accident, however, his poor wee van was not so lucky.

iDeliver was born

Dec 01

Paul Love and Stephen Carr founded iDeliver after Paul finding a passion for the industry relief driving for Pegasus Bay Couriers.

Paul hit the road on the 2nd December 2013 in a smaller Toyota Hiace offering an Amberley -> Christchurch -> Amberley courier service, five days a week