BufferBox (YC S12) Solves The Problem Of Missing Packages • Hacker News Board

Re: BufferBox (YC S12) Solves The Problem Of Missing Packages

#81

Post by fluxon » Fri, Aug 17, 2012, 9:34 AM UTC

zBox.com solved the problem of not-home package delivery and pickup, with weather-resistant IR-wireless crypto-locked locking boxes in 1999-2000[1]. The USPS, UPS and Fedex driver's existing Palm-based scanners would communicate either by IRDA to the box front panel, or would display a secure unlock code to be typed into the keypad, encrypted based on current time of day, vendor, and customer. zBox had testing deals with the three top package co's, and had funding from USPS and Whirlpool. They went broke and shut down in 2001. I still have an electronics package, and a dev kit.

[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20010721122740/http://www.zbox.co...

Re: BufferBox (YC S12) Solves The Problem Of Missing Packages

#82

Post by lmm » Sat, Aug 18, 2012, 2:47 PM UTC

ColinHayhurst wrote: post #33

thesash wrote: post #21

I'm starting to notice a trend with this latest YC class-- lots of unsexy products addressing really specific pain points.

Products solving specific pain points: Bring them on

There's an opportunity cost though. A product that's solving a specific pain point can be good and even profitable, but it's never going to take off the way a truly disruptive product does.

I suspect what's happening is that startups themselves, like everything else, are being commoditized.

Re: BufferBox (YC S12) Solves The Problem Of Missing Packages

#83

Post by lobster_johnson » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 9:47 PM UTC

We had a system exactly like this in Norway. It was run by the Norwegian postal service. It was shut down after just a year or two of operation due to lack of use, although it's evident that the main cause was mismanagement. Very few people were actually aware that the system existed.