Recently Pos Besar Ipoh (General Post Office Ipoh) closed down it’s philately display area and replaced it with a Zus Coffee, another overpriced coffe chain that’s spreading its trade like Zeus did in his heyday. Although the idea seems good on paper, I don’t think it’ll last.

Location Location Location

Pos Besar Ipoh was once located in the heart of Ipoh city. There’s a park that once had the poisonous Ipoh tree, the namesake of the city. It’s also right next to the train station that was once the artery of the nation and the once bustling bus station.

Now it’s at the entrance of a one way road with limited parking. With almost no public transport options one will have to drive to get there, then compete for parking space with everyone working at the post office, train station, the patrons to both, and now even the cafe workers.

If there’s no parking or you accidentally missed one, you’ll have to take a giant loop back because it’s a one way road.

Those who can’t take a taxi would take the bus to the station. However, ride sharing had all but killed the taxi industry, shuttle busses are non-existent, and the bus station has been moved elsewhere.

What’s The Big Idea?

The press release suggests that folks who just want to get things done at the post office and go as soon as possible would want to spend extra time waiting for their coffee. These are also the same working folks that could get coffee at the fraction of the price elsewhere.

Now that there’s more competition for parking, folks might just go to a another post office instead. There more than 600 of them nationwide.

Perhaps young folks that arrive by train would walk to the post office just for the coffee? I doubt it. It’s quite a walk with a luggage on tow and the post office is designed for picking up passengers.

My Experience

The post office opens every day at 8am. By 10 am on a Sunday morning, all the parking at and near the post office is full. I’ve never seen it this full on a weekend and that early before. So, I ended up going to a different post box to mail my letter.

Ipoh just doesn’t have the public transport system to support a business in the post office. It is adverse to micro-mobility and parking is scarce, and not to mention that the buying power here is low.

So yeah, I don’t think Zus Coffee at Pos Besar Ipoh would last.