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Swapbox Lands $800K To Take On Google’s BufferBox And Amazon’s Lockers
- drakaal 13y agoI love the idea of having packages delivered to a locked location near my home. Being able to have expensive things delivered to some where safe that has 24 hour access is awesome. (No Mailboxes ETC isn't a bad idea but it costs money and gets junk mail) I also like that I can have people send stuff without giving my address. (there are some creepy people on Etsy and Ebay)
- neel_murthy 13y agoGlad we could provide you with a way to do this drakaal. Feel free to ping us at support@swapbox.com with any ?s, concerns, feedback, etc!
- toomuchtodo 13y agoWhere do I signup :)
- neel_murthy 13y agoswapbox.com :)
- toomuchtodo 13y agoNo Chicago! :(
- bmoggach 13y agobufferbox.com :D
- toomuchtodo 13y agoNo Chicago! :(
- voltagex_ 13y agoCome to Australia - Australia Post Parcel Lockers need some competition!
- neel_murthy 13y agoWe're on it!
- voltagex_ 13y agoReally? I'd love to have a chat to you - contact details are in my profile.
- hyp0 13y agoI've used Parcel Lockers twice so far, and got the fastest and most convenient delivery I've ever had, with 24hour access (you get a temp password for a temp locker - which also acts as a signature, for packages requiring that). However, they charge a fee to non-Australia Post couriers (FedEx etc), and so it seems those couriers refuse to deliver to them... which might be shortsighted but could be an effective strategy to kill the competition in Australia, since they are far superior to FedEx (in my experience, so far - I've used FedEx many times, always frustrating).
- dustcoin 13y agoI could see this service being very useful to Silkroad buyers as it avoids giving a home address to drug dealers. If paid for anonymously, it would also make the buyer more difficult for law enforcement to track than someone who sends packages directly their residence.
- jrockway 13y agoSo they've taken $800K from someone who works at Amazon in order to take on Amazon? I think not.
- neel_murthy 13y agoI wouldn't say we're "taking on" Amazon...
- jrockway 13y agoThe title says that. But I guess that's TechCrunch editorializing, and not something you actually said. My apologies.
- neel_murthy 13y agoNo worries jrockway. It's in the headline. I'm just clarifying how we see ourselves.
- FreeKill 13y agoI'm a big fan of BufferBox, so I hope SwapBox brings even more to the table. I find it especially useful when ordering anything that ships via UPS/Fedex since they mostly try to deliver during the day and if you're not home to receive, it can be a big PITA. With BufferBox, they sign for it, then place it in the locker for you.
- neel_murthy 13y agoTry us out if you're in SF, for free, and let me know what you think :)
- protomyth 13y agoHow do these services differ from the UPS store where I get mail delivered to and packages signed for?
- drakaal 13y agoThey are generally accessible 24 hours a day. You don't have to be the person the package was sent to, just the person with the key code.
- protomyth 13y agoThe UPS store I use is accessible 24 hours with a key and door code.
- drakaal 13y agoBut you can't have your girlfriend sign for your package.
- protomyth 13y agoOdd, my brother picks up my packages for me since I have been out of state for a while.
- toomuchtodo 13y agoMy wife and my brother pickup my packages for me from my local UPS store where I have a mailbox. Don't even need a key; they both know the owner personally.
- georgemcbay 13y agoOne thing that is different is that (with the exception of Amazon Lockers) they basically don't exist if you don't live in San Francisco.
- paulgb 13y agoBufferBox is in Toronto as well.
- erikb 13y agoAre you kidding me? We have this for over 5 years in Germany... Normal service of Deutsche Post.
- CaveTech 13y agoSo then why are you surprised? This isn't a normal thing in North America and seems like you are a fan of the service, so the funding is justified. Maybe it's an obvious concept but it's not developed here.
- erikb 13y agoNormally technology is invented in Silicon Valley Start-Ups and then either copied or expanded to Germany. To see a slow developing company like the German post company (previously government owned) use a technology for years and then seeing people getting totally excited about the idea in the US years after is just a strange experience.
- cjensen 13y agoIt's a normal service of the US Postal Service too, but they will only allow mail in the box; FedEx and UPS are not allowed to use them. Maybe that's a business opportunity for USPS.
- neel_murthy 13y agoYou're right, but it's not common in America, that's where we come in, with a few other tricks and tech up our sleeves...
- erikb 13y agoI agree that there is a lot to improve upon the existing designs. Don't worry, my surprise was not meant as criticism on your project.
- msandford 13y agoSo how are you guys solving the Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA) problem? Congress passed a law in 2001 regarding CMRAs and directed the USPS to establish regulations regarding them. What it boils down to is that in order to receive USPS mail on someone's behalf as a commercial entity, you've got to register with your local post office AND have all your customers do so as well. http://www.rscentral.org/Programs/USPS-Retail-Programs/USPS-CMRA-Program.aspx http://www.rscentral.org/Programs/USPS-Retail-Programs/USPS-... If you only accept UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc but no USPS you're in a legally grey area. Most reasonably adults would suggest that FedEx isn't "mail" the same way that what the USPS delivers IS mail. But I haven't seen any case law either way on this but I'm not a lawyer so it could be out there. The reason this is a problem is that the purchaser (the SwapBox customer) doesn't always have control over how the items he/she purchases will be shipped. Think Amazon Marketplace or eBay; they often go "whatever's cheapest" and you don't get a choice since it's a $10 item with free shipping. When that happens the USPS can't legally deliver the items to the SwapBox and will return them to the shipper. If SwapBox does go the route of registering with the local post office(s) as a CMRA it gets worse. According to the regs you have to register as a customer at a particular address. So if you want to get mail at SwapBox A you have to fill out paperwork and get it delivered to the post office for SwapBox A. Now if you want to get deliveries at SwapBox B, which is at a different physical address than A? You got it, another set of paperwork for the post office that delivers to SwapBox B. This is not a trivial problem to solve. I know, I used to work at a mid-sized CMRA and there's no way around it, legally, without lobbying Congress to change the law. At least that I could come up with. EDIT: Transcript from Congressional Hearing is here http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-106hhrg61646/pdf/CHRG-106hhrg61646.pdf http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-106hhrg61646/pdf/CHRG-106h... EDIT2: I don't want to discourage you guys, there may be a way around this. I suppose that might be some kind of competitive advantage so you might not disclose it publicly. If you didn't know about this already and you want I'd be happy to explain this whole thing in detail and/or give you some things I already looked into as ways to ease the pain. I'm not sure what the proper "get in touch in real life protocol" is here on HN.
- bstewr 13y agoTypically with these services they have a central location that they have you ship things to and then the service will go deliver it to the right box. This is how Bufferbox does it and I assume how these guys are as well.
- dsugarman 13y agoyou can't move the burden of logistics costs to the e-commerce retailers, they put the burden right back on the consumer.