For ZipX, business has been going in one direction since the pandemic began – up.

“We have seen a steady increase in volume in not only shipments, but also in weight over the last year,” said IBC/ZipX founder and chairman Glenn Smith. “We are in a growth phase.”

Managing director Kevin Smith said during the pandemic many people found it easier to order things online from the United States.

“We offer door-to-door service,” he said. “We had many new customers sign on with us, and they have stayed on-board.”

To keep up with increasing demand, staff moved into a new 10,000 square foot, purpose-built facility on February 18.

Spencer Butterfield of Hamilton Properties Limited, developed the site to the east of Butterfield & Vallis.

“Spencer and myself got together back in 2019 and started discussing this facility,” Glenn Smith said. “In 2020 we took a pause because we did not know what would happen to the world, or any business. So, it was put into a holding pattern.”

Hamilton Properties Limited built the shell of the building and IBC/ZipX did the complete interior fit out.

“We wanted to use it for air express, ZipX, UPS and freight business,” Mr Smith said.

The new space allowed them to move their airport customs clearance team from St David’s to Hamilton.

That meant that managing director Kevin Smith no longer had to constantly drive back and forth. UPS packages can be collected from the Canal Road office, but ZipX packages can be collected at their Gorham Road office next to the Lobster Pot & Boathouse Bar.

“We did the Gorham Road office in October 2021,” Glenn Smith said. “The landlord totally gutted it for us, and we put our tweaks to it to design it to our own specifications.”

The new floor space was necessary to keep up with the changes in their business. When they moved into their old Park Road, Hamilton premises in 1996, it was a totally different operation.

“We did not have the package business back then,” Glenn Smith said. “It was mostly documents, so it was pretty much built for that. The whole place on Canal Road is open plan, so there is more cross communication.”

Kevin Smith said that allows them to get information to their customers much quicker.

“That is a tremendous help for us,” he said.

He said the new facility has the future in mind.

“We are ready for whatever comes our way,” he said.

Glenn Smith said they also moved their United States address from Jamaica Plains, New York to New Castle, Delaware, back in 2021, so our clients would not pay sales tax when shipping domestically within the US.

“We came up with that concept,” he said. “We have been in this industry since 1992. We had a service called the personal forwarding service.”

Kevin Smith said clothing is the most common item that people are bringing to Bermuda.

“We do not charge dimensional weight so we have a lot of large packages,” he said. “We bring in chairs, sofas, mattresses, and 80-inch TV screens.”

Glenn Smith said they bring in photocopy paper to sell to the general public, but other than that they do not intend to start selling goods themselves.

“We are sticking to our lane,” Mr Smith said. “You buy whatever you want and we bring it in.”