Delivery failure is not an option.
That’s the motto on the Web site of BufferBox.com, a Waterloo, Ont.-based startup founded by a team of University of Waterloo Mechatronics Engineering grads fed up with missing parcel deliveries.
“Missed deliveries are a royal pain,” says Aditya Bali who started BufferBox with friends Mike McCauley and Jay Shah as part of a fourth year engineering design projects after deciding they have missed enough parcel deliveries and wanted to fix the problem once and for all.
Like many other students in residence, the trio are frequent online shoppers for a wide variety of things such as textbooks, robot components and snuggies. But due to class schedules, they often missed the delivery of the stuff they ordered. It didn’t help that depots for FedEx, UPS and DHL were far from campus.
Their solution was a self-serve kiosk that allows for 24/7 pickup at a convenient location. Since the installation of the 14″x14″x28″ boxes at the U of W Student Life Centre basement atrium in the Fall of this year, BufferBox has facilitated hundreds of successful parcel deliveries.
BufferBox’s entry into The $1,000 Minute.
“in the near future, we intend to open up more kiosks in other universities and perhaps high density residential and office buildings,” says Bali.
In order to avail of BufferBox’s services, users need to sign up for a free BufferBox account. The next time the user orders something the user has the parcel sent to the BufferBox address.
When the BufferBox office receives the parcel, the company sends the user an email informing the user of the parcel’s arrival. The user is also given a unique BBox PIN so that he can open the BufferBox containing the parcel.
The service works on a BufferBox Delivery Credit System. When users login in they can purchase credits for as low as $2.39 per credit. Each Delivery is worth on credit. Users can pay using PayPal or any major credit card.
BufferBox also pays all taxes on behalf of the user. BufferBox send the user an invoice via email which the user must pay before he can have a BBox PIN code.
BufferBox also offers a free parcel holding service which allows users to order multiple parcels and pick them up at a later time. For example, students can pre-order textbooks for an upcoming term and pick them up from the BufferBox at the beginning of the term.
The fees are actually cheaper than what most courier companies charge, according to Bali. “By having your parcels delivered to BufferBox’s business address, we can actually save you up to $20 per shipment,” he says.
Nestor Arellano is a Senior Writer at ITBusiness.ca. Follow him on Twitter, read his blog, and join the IT Business Facebook Page. We'd love to hear your opinion about this or any other story you read in our publication.
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