About us

The Shipping Depot has been serving Missoula’s shipping needs for over 21 years. We areMissoula’s first and only locally owned and independent mail and parcel center. We give you franchise level service without franchise level prices.
The Shipping Depot was founded in 1987 by David & Kathryn Shappee. At that time there was one other business operating as a “parcel drop”, Service Express, in Southgate Mall. The concept of full-service packing and multi-option shipping was new to Missoula. The first SD was located at 1916 Brooks. After our First Christmas, Service Express closed. We moved in to their old spot in the mall in the fall of 1988. In 1990 we opened Eastgate Station, simultaneous with a new competitor right next door. This unfortunate coincidence soon led to their demise in 1991. In 1993 we picked up the pieces of another competitor in Missoula and opened Central Station on the growing Reserve Street corridor. In October 1994 we closed the Southgate Mall location and opened The Mail Depot in the new Northgate Plaza on North Reserve. In 1997, on December 17th (the busiest day of the year!) Eastgate Station burnt to the ground. For the next few months we operated out of a trailer and then opened in our current location across the street. We have since closed both 1916 Brooks and The Mail Depot as the demographics & competitive environment have changed.

Kathryn was born in Missoula and raised as an operator and manager of her parents business, Central Answering & Ambulance Service. David was a salesman, manager, and trainer with Honda Motor Co. They came up with the idea of a “personal business service center” while living in the Portland, Or. area and were planning on leaving the corporate rat race and coming home to Missoula. Kathryn patronized a local chain similar to what we envisioned for Missoula, so we paid then a fee to learn their business, brought the concept to Missoula, and improved upon it here.

The purpose of The Shipping Depot is to provide an opportunity for self-fulfillment for the people involved in it. Profit is a means, like the fuel that runs a machine, not an end in itself. While each of us has varying personal goals, as long as we share the common goal of being the best, together, we can succeed individually as well. In 1990 the staff came up with this Mission Statement:

“TO BE THE BEST AT SERVING OUR CUSTOMERS FAIRLY, WITH THE HIGHEST QUALITY, AT A PROFIT”

Award Winning service is our goal. The Shipping Depot has received several shipping awards including UPS Top Air Shipper in 2002, and the rare UPS ‘Top 100′ award in 2008