Lynne and Bob Plourde are selling their Newcastle- and Bath-based mail and parcel center, Mail It 4 U, after 19 years to focus on selling custom printed and embroidered apparel. (Nate Poole photo)
Bob and Lynne Plourde will be selling their Newcastle-based mail and parcel business, Mail It 4 U, after 19 years to focus on selling custom printed and embroidered apparel.
The couple will continue to operate a Mail It 4 U out of their location at 10 State Road in Bath.
Their business flourished over the course of nearly two decades, and the Plourdes are ready to step back and take an approach to life and business that doesn’t demand a seven-day work week, Bob Plourde said over the phone on Nov. 30.
“We’ve been building the shipping part of the business for 19 years, and I’m ready to start slowing down,” he said.
Bob Plourde said that he is happy that Mail It 4 U has been able to meet a need in his community and would like to see that legacy continue with someone new at the helm. He said “it would be nice” to see a local resident step forward to take over the business.
The couple will be leasing out their Newcastle location at 4 Mills Road and opening their new apparel business in the building next door on the corner of Mills and Academy Hill roads.
Lynne Plourde said that it has become clear in the last couple of years that the apparel side of Newcastle’s Mail It 4 U could stand on its own.
“We’re just getting so (many) more contractors and schools and just individuals that want something. It’s just crazy,” she said.
Bob Plourde was inspired to start Mail It 4 U in 2003. He was working as a store manager at a Walmart in New Hampshire, and he decided that a corporate job did not provide what he wanted out of life, and so he sought to start his own business.
He used to frequent a local mail and parcel center for work and he realized that central Lincoln County and the Newcastle region did not have a singular parcel center that provided printing, copying, packaging, and shipping all under one roof. Soon after, Bob Plourde opened Mail It 4 U as Bob’s Mailbox Express on Biscay Road in Damariscotta in 2003.
The Plourdes built and moved into their current Newcastle location in 2005 and purchased their Bath location in 2012.
Bob Plourde takes a lot of pride in the professional level of service that Mail It 4 U provides, as many of his staff members are certified packing specialists, international shipping specialists, and notaries.
“We have customers that drive from Searsport and beyond that come to us because of our ability and knowledge of what we do,” Bob Plourde said.
Going forward, the Plourdes said that they will be turning the retail and apparel side of their business into a separate entity and begin stocking merchandise for more of the local schools in and around Lincoln County.
The Newcastle and Bath locations currently carry a lot of Lincoln Academy and Morse High School gear, and the couple would like to extend that service to families in other schools like Great Salt Bay, Bristol, South Bristol, Nobleboro, or Jefferson.
“I love the school spirit and kids wearing swag and representing their schools. I think that’s important … to feel proud of where you’re at,” Bob Plourde said.
Lynne Plourde said that the name for the new business is still up in the air, and while she is excited to embark on the venture, she will miss Mail It 4 U’s regular customers.
“You just build a relationship with everybody, so I’ll miss that, but I’m not going to be very far away,” she said.
To inquire about purchasing Mail It 4 U, contact Maine Business Advisors Broker Daniel Baber at dbaber@tworld.com.
(Correction: an earlier version of this article online and on Page 1 of the Dec. 2 print edition incorrectly reported that Bob and Lynne Plourde will be selling their Newcastle and Bath-based mail and parcel business, Mail It 4 U. They will only be selling Newcastle’s Mail It 4 U, and they will continue to own and operate the Mail It 4 U in Bath. Additionally, the article reported that Daniel Baber works for Transworld Commercial Real Estate of Maine, he works for Maine Business Advisors. The Lincoln County News regrets these errors.)
