Y Combinator pitch boosts Waterloo’s BufferBox • Hacker News Board

Re: Y Combinator pitch boosts Waterloo’s BufferBox

#11

Post by alexshye » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 11:20 AM UTC

mbh wrote: post #2

Wasn't Amazon already doing this with their amazon lockers? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044354550457756...

That's great, but does that matter much? This isn't academic research where novelty is the key. They are trying to build a business, and there is clearly good potential for a business in this area. And at the very least, it will be good to have competition in this space.

Re: Y Combinator pitch boosts Waterloo’s BufferBox

#12

Post by Tichy » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 12:02 PM UTC

If I understand it correctly, DHL has done something similar in Germany for at least ten years now.

It is OK - especially useful to be able to send away parcels in the middle of the night (the stations are used for both sending and collecting). Other than that, I ended up not using them much. Neighbors work better for accepting parcels. But I suppose for other people they are quite popular.

Ultimately I think DHL's play is to reduce the number of human powered post offices, so in the end Packstations will be a step backwards for user friendliness.

Edit: link to German DHL site about "Packstation" http://www.dhl.de/content/de/de/paket/privatkunden/packstati...

Edit 2: English Wikipedia says they started in 2001 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packstation

Re: Y Combinator pitch boosts Waterloo’s BufferBox

#13

Post by sojong » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 2:38 PM UTC

tsurantino wrote: post #3

mbh wrote: post #2

Wasn't Amazon already doing this with their amazon lockers? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044354550457756...

The argument is that Amazon controls 30% currently, so 70% is "fair game". It's a pretty weak argument considering that Amazon has the infrastructure muscle out someone like Bufferbox, if there is no distinct competitive advantage for the startup.

I think it depends on the agreements Bufferbox can get with the buildings. I'm not familiar with these types of agreements (eg Redbox kiosks, vending machines may be similar), but I can imagine that non-competes with multi-year terms are a possibility. Especially if Bufferbox itself will pay for the initial costs.

If that is the case, then Bufferbox is in a more defensible position.