When I was a kid, receiving a package was a big deal because there was probably something good inside. Today we seem to get a few packages a week–and they’re usually something like paper towels or dog food from Amazon. I have Prime, so almost everything arrives on time. And when it doesn’t, it usually not a big deal (except for Grandma’s Christmas present arriving late last year). It’s a much bigger deal for the companies who are paying a lot of money to ensure that their shipments arrive on time. A late package from UPS or FedEx is often eligible for a refund, but actually getting refunds on all of your late packages is a job in itself. That’s where 71lbs steps in. They are a Fort Lauderdale, FL based startup “with a ‘set-and-forget’ system that allows our customers to easily and automatically collect late-shipment refunds owed to them via the FedEx & UPS money-back-guarantee.”
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engineering,
Florida,
Internships,
Logistics,
paid,
sales,
shipping,
software development,
web development
Yesterday I received close to ten packages. It’s that time of year! I can barely look out the window without seeing a UPS, FedEx, or USPS truck on my street. The only problem is that it’s getting to the point where Amazon is the only company I trust to still ship me stuff on time. So many online merchants have terrible shipping experiences, and there’s no way I’ll trust them to get me what I ordered when they say they will. Hopefully that will soon change with the help of EasyPost. They’re a San Francisco, CA based startup that “is changing the way shipping works and helping a lot of people” at the same time. By “tying together disparate data sources and APIs” they’ve been able to create “a scalable shipping API for developers everywhere.”
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California,
engineering,
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technical support,
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I have a favorite shirt. It doesn’t quite fit anymore, and I’m sad about it. When I first bought it, it was just barely long enough. With each wash it seems to shrink a tiny bit, and now it’s at the point where any upward arm movement temporarily turns it into a belly shirt. Nobody needs to see that. The shirt is a purple (I’d call it pink) Cotton Reverse Seam Shirt by Steven Alan, and I bought it on Gilt. The best thing about it is that people always tell me that I have my shirt inside out, and I get to exclaim, “Haven’t you ever heard of reverse seams?” It’s the small things in life. The Reverse Seam Shirt is Steven Alan’s signature, and it’s part of the reason why the New York, NY based designer and retailer has been able to grow “a loyal following for [its] unique brand of casual, smart, self-assured essentials for both men and women.”
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apparel,
design,
fashion,
Internships,
inventory control,
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merchandising,
New York,
planner,
shipping,
software development,
user experience,
web development
Give Postmates a try. Use this link to get a free delivery.
I didn’t make any progress on gift buying yesterday, which means that my online shopping options are getting pretty slim. I’m either going to have to pay for expedited shipping or step foot in a retail store. If I lived in San Francisco, CA, I’d have a hybrid option. Postmates is a company that offers “a revolutionary same day urban logistics & delivery platform.” Yesterday we talked about how Quiet Logistics has enabled e-commerce upstarts to compete with Amazon in terms of fulfillment. Postmates is doing that for local retailers. If it can be purchased in your city (legally of course), you can probably have Postmates deliver it to your door for a price starting at $6.99.
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Today is the last day to order something with “regular shipping” and get it in time for Christmas. It took a while, but we’re finally at a point where logistics can keep up with the speed of the Internet. Free shipping from most sites often used to take more than a week. Now I swear I’ve had things delivered the same day from Amazon. Amazon is on a completely different level from most other e-commerce companies, but more and more companies are able to offer Amazon-like delivery because of a not-so-well-known partner. Quiet Logistics is an Andover, MA based “pick-pack-ship operation (fulfillment) that uses an elegant mix of technology and branded packaging to complete the eCommerce experience.” If you’ve ever ordered from Bonobos, Gilt, or Nasty Gal, your package probably originated at Quiet Logistics’ distribution center.
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Massachusetts,
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I’m sure that you’ve all heard of sonar, but how many of you have actually used it? My first real experience with sonar was in college when I was part of a research team trying to find the Finger Lakes equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. Ok, that’s an exaggeration. I was actually fishing on a friend’s boat, and he taught me how to use a sonar unit to catch Lake Trout. It’s pretty cool—you can actually watch your jig drop down to the bottom of the lake, and you can watch on the screen as little blobs of pixels occasionally chase it—these are fish. It’s half video game, half real life fishing. Obviously, there are far more serious and important uses of sonar, and that’s what Farsounder is all about. They’re a company based in Warwick, RI that “is one of the world leaders in the design, manufacture and marketing of 3D sonar systems for a variety of applications in the commercial, recreational, defense and homeland security markets, internationally as well as domestically.” Two-dimensions is great when you’re fishing, but if you’re navigating a large, expensive ship around underwater obstacles, three-dimensions is the way to go.
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defense,
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navigation systems,
Rhode Island,
shipping,
software development,
transportation
Did you know that the invention of the portable clock was mainly driven by the need for ships to measure longitude? I bet that you didn’t. I did because I was forced to read a book called Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
during the summer before my Sophomore year of high school. For most of nautical history, one of the most challenging problems facing mariners was figuring out where they were at a given moment. Now companies like Veson Nautical provide software solutions that “allow users to manage and share information efficiently across Chartering, Operations, Trading, and Accounting departments—streamlining workflow, cutting costs, and optimizing profits.” If Christopher Columbus (whom we celebrated – or not – earlier this week) had software to optimize profits, he certainly never would have “discovered” America.
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