
Startup Aims to Give Everyone the Mighty Shipping Power of Amazon - gozmike
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/the-next-big-thing-you-missed-startup-aims-to-give-everyone-the-mighty-shipping-power-of-amazon/
======
hayksaakian
If you need amazon like shipping, you can do fulfillment by amazon where you
pay them to keep your products in their warehouse, and then they ship as
directed.

Obviously competition is good, but I wonder what they offer beyond not being
amazon

\----

After reading the article, it seems like the main unique offering is that they
actually Pack your item, and take them from your home.

Seems like the article glosses over this aspect, focusing more on how they
compare to amazon or other startups.

~~~
kevingibbon
The big different is cost. We do not have to store any inventory so we can
offer the same service for a much lower price point.

Instead of a company shipping all their items to amazon, we will fulfill out
of your storage/office/home/coffee shop.

Plus you don't have to be as organized to pre-ship all your items to amazon's
warehouse. Etsy/eBay/Shopfy sellers love it.

btw CEO of Shyp here.

~~~
free2rhyme214
Kevin - What if Amazon, UPS, Fedex start picking up consumers items?

This appears to be your unique advantage which reminds me a lot of
Instacart/Uber in a sense of bringing the solution to the customer instead of
having the customer coming to you.

~~~
kevingibbon
They already pickup peoples items. However they are not setup logistically to
handle 5-20min pickup times. They do something called a milk run which
requires them to pre-schedule their routes before hand. They absolutely could
offer this service in the future, it would just be logistically very difficult
to build it into their current operations.

Our unique advantage is our product/experience UX and our focus on packaging.
UPS, Fedex, USPS and our other partners all love us. They see us filling a
much needed gap in the market. Just as stripe does for visa/mc/etc.

What these shipping companies are the best at is moving many packed items over
large distances. Their logistics networks are unparalleled to no one. We just
see a large gap in the first mile.

~~~
cylinder
How can it possibly be profitable to courier packages like this? That is,
without adding on $10+ in fees?

~~~
patio11
It has approximately the same economics as pizza delivery, minus everything
that goes into making the pizza.

~~~
cylinder
So the drivers will rely on tips? How much am I supposed to tip?

------
pessimizer
This is just barely an internet startup - it's actually a real, physical
business doing physical things aided by technology. I wish them luck and hope
they make it to Chicago.

Treat your couriers well and I'll never have to hate you:)

------
kayhi
"Shyp charges customers the cheapest retail price they would pay to ship an
item, which still ends up being more than what the company pays. Shyp keeps
the difference."

This could be very helpful for those that do not have a business account with
UPS or FedEx, but if you regularly ship packages then it is cheaper to do it
yourself at some point.

Amazon pricing: [http://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-
amazon/pricing.htm...](http://services.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-
amazon/pricing.htm?ld=NSGoogleAS) Using their Action Toy example costs $6.54
which would retail $8-12 depending on the distance sent from FedEx/UPS

The spot that Amazon really excels is standard verse two-day shipping ($4.75
compared to $7.75 for a non-media item).

It would be interesting if Shyp or someone could graph the optimum depending
on your volume (a bit complicated to due to sizes, weight and frequency, but
doable).

~~~
kevingibbon
absolutely. The stuff we already do behind the scenes is quite incredible. Not
ready to share anything yet but stay tuned.

btw CEO of shyp here.

------
larrys
"The coolest—and also biggest—tech in the place is a machine that takes raw
cardboard and cuts custom-sized boxes that eliminate all the empty space that
Amazon so often fills with those plastic air-filled bags. And smaller boxes
can mean lower shipping prices."

Lower shipping costs? Apparently not for Amazon. Impossible to believe that
they haven't correctly factored in box cost, size and filler material in terms
of the rates _that they pay_ vs. everyone else. Plus packing multiple items
(for one shipment) is different than packing a single item as well.

------
hoopism
... Where Everyone < Population of San Francisco

Fixed.

------
georgemcbay
The article doesn't really touch upon speed of delivery (to customer) and
consistency, which (speaking as a consumer) is Amazon's true magic sauce.

The reason I buy almost everything I buy online via Amazon is that if it is
sold by or fulfilled by Amazon and I order it I will get it exactly when I
specify 99% of the time (generally two days from order, unless I really want
to pay the extra ~$4 for one day on top of my Prime membership). Every other
shipping/buying concern is completely secondary for me -- sellers who sell on
Amazon but don't fulfill via Amazon offer very little benefit (ease of one-
click shopping is nothing compared to the nearly guaranteed consistent
delivery, at least for me).

I actually wish more companies than Amazon (and Newegg) would handle this sort
of consistency better because I'd love to spread my dollars around more, but
those are the only two that have earned my trust in this area. Every other
online seller I've used might as well have "???" listed for shipping times
because that's what actually happens.

~~~
super-serial
Amazon's speed of delivery has gotten worse and worse over the years. 5 years
ago I would get anything I order within 3-4 days. Now it's two weeks when
using their free shipping.

I'm not paying $100 extra for Prime just to get things shipped in a reasonable
time-frame... because those other services that are bundled with Prime are
worthless to me.

Since Amazon has been so bad, now I use websites that focus on niches (one
website for computer-related items, one for supplements etc.). All these
websites offer free shipping much faster than Amazon.

------
brianbreslin
What cities are they in right now? I would think it would be smart to do
plugins for magento/woocommerce/presta/etc and let that trigger the orders.
However not sure how this would work for moderate volume stuff that can't
support the $5 eating into the margins.

This seems best suited for periodic sales off of ebay, not full time
e-commerce plays.

~~~
kevingibbon
San Francisco and launching in NY early Oct. Signup for NY access on our site
now.

We do both. The benefit to not using a 3PL (Amazon logistics or other
services) is that we don't ever store your items. We ship from your location
on-demand. So our costs are less which we pass on.

We actually see a lot of omni-channel retailers love using our service. They
utilize their in-store inventory to ship out as purchases come in.

------
balor123
Sounds really, really great to me. I've got some cell phones, an old Kindle
reader, and some control4 stuff at home that's been there for like a year,
mostly b/c it's too much of a pain to pack and sell. eBay provided an app
recently that makes it easier to sell but doesn't solve the shipping problem.
Also, it's iOS only and not available in my area I think. I could take these
items to Staples to pack and ship but then I get hosed, such that it's cheaper
to throw it away than sell it. I mean shipping a printer is like $100 from
Staples but Amazon includes it free in the price of a $90 printer somehow.

So I'd say there's huge potential in this business. I'd actually prefer to see
it under Amazon's roof but fine separate as well as long as they can scale
quickly and without a lot of hiccups.

------
wmf
Maybe it's just me, but I found the custom box cutting machine to be the
coolest part of this article.

~~~
DhruvSax
yeah - I'm surprised that they didn't go into more depth about that.
Apparently the machine is made by Packsize:
[http://www.packsize.com/products/em-7](http://www.packsize.com/products/em-7)

------
dsugarman
I can't imagine this would be feasible for any online retailer. The only
exception I can think of is if you just raised a bunch of money and want to
figure out fulfillment later, but you will most definitely have UPS/FedEx
trucks docking at your warehouse with any real volume. The solution seems
great for someone wanting to sell random items they no longer want to own on
eBay but the benefits of the easy to use app are also negatives for a business
who are shipping the same product over and over. No business should settle for
retail pricing, unless in the future you can get better volume rates with Shyp
than you would on your volume. The implied market and comparison to Amazon
seems off in this article.

~~~
praxulus
I didn't see this as being a business service at all, it seems completely
aimed at a consumer and maybe hobbyist market. The comparison to Amazon is
just about bringing the convenience, not the scale.

I've had to ship a few things here and there, and it's always been annoying.
Even when Seagate sent me all the necessary packaging when I needed to RMA a
hard drive, I still ended up having to drive over to the UPS location to drop
it off. Finding an appropriately sized box and getting a hold of just enough
packaging to fill the gaps is not something I want to waste time on when
shipping something, especially if the item itself is <$100 to begin with.

Whether regular people will start shipping enough stuff to make this company
profitable is another matter, but I would certainly love to have this option
around next time I need to ship something.

~~~
bunderbunder
Add to it that I suspect self-shipping tends to end up being more expensive
than it needs to be for individuals, too. The selection boxes offered at
retail shipping locations is limited, so you almost invariably end up paying
to ship a bigger box than is necessary.

Maybe if you're the kind of person to save boxes you can often find one that
fits well in your basement, but for the urban markets they're looking to serve
most people will be living in smaller residences without a lot of space for
packratting cardboard.

~~~
dllthomas
Not to mention that packratting cardboard can be bad for pests and fires. Or
rather, good for those things and thereby bad for people.

------
BFay
I'm wondering how scalable this service will be outside of cities. I just
moved into a new apartment and I'm shopping around for furniture - exploring
craigslist postings, etc.

I drive a sedan and while I'm willing to drive half an hour or so to pick up
furniture, I can't fit very much in my car.

Renting a truck is sort of impractical for moving just one item. If I could
use Shyp like a taxi service, waiting twenty minutes or so for a courier to
come and pick up a large item, and then having them deliver it directly to my
place for a reasonable fee, well, that would be pretty amazing. I'm not sure
if that is feasible, or even part of the vision of the company, but I want it
now!

------
ChikkaChiChi
The value Shyp really provides is taking the guess work out of rate and
service shopping. I'm heavily involved in the logistics of my company's
shipping and dimensional weights, speed of delivery, and volume all play a
huge part in keeping your shipping costs down.

My company was leaving a lot of money on the table until we got shipping costs
under control. I could very easily see startups making catastrophic decisions
in this area of fulfillment that another company could help with.

------
waterside81
There's a lot of innovation to be done in the shipping industry. Here in
Canada, shipping is very expensive. I've seen a few companies sprout up now
that take your packages, drive down to the US and ship from within the border.
This allows Canadians to ship packages as if they're US domestic packages.

I can ship something to Hawaii for less than it would cost to ship from
Toronto to Vancouver. It's insane.

------
justinsb
Interesting - I've always used USPS Flat-Rate Priority Mail: 2 or 3 day
service; free boxes; no need to weigh; free pickup at my door. About $5 for
small boxes; $10 for medium boxes; $15 for larger boxes.

I still hope that the USPS would build an easier website to use - it's good,
but it's not "Uber-easy". Can someone that uses Shyp comment - is Shyp the
service I've been waiting for?

~~~
kevingibbon
USPS flat rate is actually only the cheapest USPS option if you are shipping >
11 lbs. I guarantee you that if you use us it will be cheaper (even including
our $5 pickup fee) than for you to do it yourself with all free packaging
materials. Then factor what your time is worth.

UPS ground and fedex ground are actually the best/cheapest option if you are
shipping anything > 3 lbs. We choose the cheapest carrier automatically and
create a custom box for each item.

btw CEO of Shyp here.

~~~
spydertennis
whats the cheapest if you are shipping 1 lb domestically and need a tracking
number?

~~~
kevingibbon
USPS priority. If it is <= 13 oz you could use first class.

Their price point can't be beat for < 3 lb items domestically.

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
UPS Mail Innovations beats out USPS First Class for us in price and
accountability. Because they push through UPS's system all the way to regional
facilities, we're seeing less package claims.

UPS SurePost also can be competitive if you put them through the wringer. From
1-9lbs we're saving between $0.08 to over $22.00 across the Contiguous US.

USPS almost retained our business from 10-15lbs, but we got UPS to match them.

------
damian2000
Its kind of an inverted version of Kosmo.com

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kozmo.com](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kozmo.com)

Kozmo promised to delivery anything anywhere within an hour whereas Shyp
promises to pick up anything within an hour. Lets hope it doesn't go the same
way as Kosmo.

------
smokey_the_bear
I often look for baby items on eBay. They use stuff for such a short period
that used is a great way to go, but with shipping costs it's rarely any
cheaper than Amazon for new items. Hopefully this, or a convenient way to
exchange local used items solves that.

------
prostoalex
Their CEO was on "This Week in Startups", there's a bunch of interesting
details around their model, if you don't mind the video

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mr3YnULZs8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mr3YnULZs8)

------
joshdotsmith
I've been waiting for Shyp to launch an API. There are plenty of apps out
there that can use an experience like the one Shyp provides.

------
npinguy
Sounds like it fills a need effectively for the Disposable Income San
Francisco Dweller.

But "everyone" has got to be misleading, right? No way this is cost-effective
for someone whose shipping margins are thin like an eBay seller.

And there is no way to scale this across the country without essentially
needing a warehouse full of packers, at which point you are basically in
Amazon territory competing with them at their own game.

I guess this can be successful as long as the company stays small.

~~~
kevingibbon
not true (disposable income SF dwellers). Using our service will be cheaper
than doing it yourself. As we create custom boxes (reduces weight and size)
and choose the best carrier for each shipment we are able to offer a very
convenient service for a cheaper price that you could get yourself.

We will need to have a warehouse in every major city we launch in. It is a
barrier but I can tell you we have the very best team to launch each city
cheaply and at a ridiculous pace. We are launching NYC in oct.

------
plumeria
Kevin - How much do you ship to Central and South America?

------
jianelli
There is a cool company in New York called Shipster, I think in some ways they
are better than Shyp. Check them out. This looks like the new Uber vs. Lyft
rivalry to me

~~~
gozmike
What makes them seem better than Shyp? On the surface, Shipster seems much
younger and looks like a copycat player.

Nothing against copying and competing really, but would like to understand the
basis of your claims on the ways they are better.

~~~
jianelli
I travel between san francisco and new york all the time and tried both
services.

Honestly, I liked that shipster gave me a price upfront for all shipping
speeds and that I could track my shipments more intuitively from the app. That
was way way better.

Shyp is obviously in the press all the time, but that doesnt mean its a better
service.

~~~
kevingibbon
You can select 'shipping options' and get a quote in there.

We are continuously A/B testing every interaction and hiding the price in a
sub-menu helped across the board.

------
jianelli
Taking a ~$3 million seed round to buy customers and expensive toys must be
fun. But its not a business. Can you keep this up without investor cash to
burn through?

~~~
kevingibbon
yes

