

Y Combinator pitch boosts Waterloo’s BufferBox - Maven911
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-tools/small-business-briefing/y-combinator-pitch-boosts-waterloos-bufferbox/article4492976

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Tichy
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...](http://www.dhl.de/content/de/de/paket/privatkunden/packstation.html)

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

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mbh
Wasn't Amazon already doing this with their amazon lockers?
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044354550457756...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443545504577567763829784538.html)

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tsurantino
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.

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bmoggach
Amazon lockers offer a solution for Amazon only products. This is an open
platform all carriers to use, in addition to the other 70% of eCommerce sales
in Canada.

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rykov
For a long time Amazon fulfilled only their own products (and some large
partners) from their warehouses. Now, it's offered to everyone as Fulfillment
by Amazon service. No doubt Amazon will offer the locker service, if the
market is there.

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bmoggach
You're right. Their marketplace model has been built out. Amazon's use of the
locker system is an incredible opportunity and as exceptional validation of
the technology.

And of course, the open platform to all carriers.

