How Shyp Sunk: The Rise and Fall of an On-Demand Startup • Hacker News Board

Re: How Shyp Sunk: The Rise and Fall of an On-Demand Startup

#21

Post by karthikvellanki » Sat, Mar 31, 2018, 4:17 PM UTC

akurilin wrote: post #6

Too bad, they were pretty convenient for consumers. Made selling stuff online super snappy, as you never had to worry about packaging, dragging something to the post office and waiting in line during lunch rush hour. Any chance a still-alive competitor exists? I remember thinking that the business model did seem tricky. Early on, when they just started, they let me ship half of my already boxed apartment for $5 + wha…

Shipbob seems to be alive and kicking. They switched their focus to businesses early on.

I don't know if they operate in wherever you're located.

Re: How Shyp Sunk: The Rise and Fall of an On-Demand Startup

#22

Post by corvallis » Sat, Mar 31, 2018, 6:02 PM UTC

rconti wrote: post #7

I didn't even really know they existed. I mean, we have a package sitting in the closet with Shyp tape on it, and I guess I was vaguely aware that the person who sent it had a service package it up, but that's about all I knew. I never bothered to investigate, I never heard about them from friends or folks on the internet, but I would have LOVED to have used their service. Shipping things is one of my least favorite…

I go through periods of frequent shipping, and I find it pretty easy. I bought a small scale and the USPS website is pretty solid for giving price comparisons and allowing you to buy/print postage and drop it in the mail. You can order flat rate boxes and they send them to you. I've almost always found UPS/Fedex to be more expensive so I simply stopped comparing. If it's local, I'll use a courier. I'd rather just work with what I know even if it means rarely overspending a few bucks. Saves a lot of time, money, and hassle in the long run. I guess I don't understand how others seem to overcomplicate or overthink this to the point that something like Shyp existed for as long as it did.

Re: How Shyp Sunk: The Rise and Fall of an On-Demand Startup

#23

Post by cepth » Sat, Mar 31, 2018, 6:12 PM UTC

corvallis wrote: post #22

rconti wrote: post #7

I didn't even really know they existed. I mean, we have a package sitting in the closet with Shyp tape on it, and I guess I was vaguely aware that the person who sent it had a service package it up, but that's about all I knew. I never bothered to investigate, I never heard about them from friends or folks on the internet, but I would have LOVED to have used their service. Shipping things is one of my least favorite…

I go through periods of frequent shipping, and I find it pretty easy. I bought a small scale and the USPS website is pretty solid for giving price comparisons and allowing you to buy/print postage and drop it in the mail. You can order flat rate boxes and they send them to you. I've almost always found UPS/Fedex to be more expensive so I simply stopped comparing. If it's local, I'll use a courier. I'd rather just wor…

Worth noting that UPS/FedEx/USPS each has its own shipping niches.

YMMV, but I've generally found that FedEx for home delivery of larger packages is cheaper than UPS and USPS, who each charge a surcharge for residential delivery vs commercial delivery. If you need to ship things overnight, FedEx's air/express prices are a competitive advantage.

USPS is very price-competitive if you are able to use their standard sized packaging, their "flat rate boxes".

For shipping larger items via ground, UPS still generally has that niche. Worth noting that if you do large volumes of smaller items, say the size of a book, UPS Surepost combines UPS's speed with USPS last-mile delivery.

Re: How Shyp Sunk: The Rise and Fall of an On-Demand Startup

#24

Post by jjeaff » Sat, Mar 31, 2018, 7:02 PM UTC

It seemed to me that shyp's market was simply too small. One of those juicero like ideas that only seem great in SV.

There seem to be two primary segments. Those that sell a lot online or at least rather frequently. And those that are very infrequent shippers.

For the frequent shippers, it's simply not cost effective. Especially considering that most online marketplaces, like eBay and Amazon have easy shipping label printing and you can request that ups or FedEx come pick up the package. So except for the hassle of finding a box and tape, I'm not sure why you would use shyp. (And most always have Amazon boxes lying around now).

And if you are simply a very infrequent shipper, it's still probably easier to just swing by a shipping location like mailnmore. Plus, if you are infrequently shipping, you probably aren't trying to find a service to make it that easy. It's not enough of a pain point.

Those that fall between those two groups would seem vanishingly small.

I was dumbfounded everytime shyp raised more money. But I assumed they had some great growth numbers that the public weren't privy to. But maybe not.

Re: How Shyp Sunk: The Rise and Fall of an On-Demand Startup

#25

Post by jjeaff » Sat, Mar 31, 2018, 7:07 PM UTC

akurilin wrote: post #6

Too bad, they were pretty convenient for consumers. Made selling stuff online super snappy, as you never had to worry about packaging, dragging something to the post office and waiting in line during lunch rush hour. Any chance a still-alive competitor exists? I remember thinking that the business model did seem tricky. Early on, when they just started, they let me ship half of my already boxed apartment for $5 + wha…

Anyone who is still waiting in line at the post office to ship something seems like they would not be tech savvy enough to use an app like shyp. Almost any online marketplace let's you print a shipping label right off their site. Then you can drop it in a blue box or just swing by the post office, skip the line, and set the ready to go package on the counter.

In the case of UPS or FedEx, there is usually an option for them to come by and pick it up for free or a few dollars. I get enough packages from USPS that I can just leave an outgoing package on my porch with a sign for the carrier to get it.

Shyp just seemed to be a solution looking for a problem.

Re: How Shyp Sunk: The Rise and Fall of an On-Demand Startup

#26

Post by TheCoelacanth » Mon, Apr 02, 2018, 12:13 AM UTC

lkrubner wrote: post #19

rahimnathwani wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"charging deep discount price of $5 with the help of $65 Million VC money" Your comment reminds me of the pizza company in the most recent episode of Silicon Valley.

Except Sliceline, in the HBO show, was inspired by real-life Slice, which makes a shocking amount of money. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.slicelife.... Slice is here in New York and I've been to their office and I know many of the programmers who work there, so I know they are surprisingly successful.

It's a completely business model, though. Slice just provides online ordering for existing pizzerias. The marginal cost of each pizza sold is very low, so they don't have to make a lot off of each pizza to eventually be successful if they have high enough volume.

Sliceline was doing things with high operational costs like repackaging and delivering pizzas, so their marginal costs for each pizza were very high. That means they have to make a lot off of each individual pizza no matter how high their volume gets.