Build a Better Mousetrap…a Mailbox Actually

Inspiration for today’s blog is courtesy of the Sunday, February 21 edition of the New York Times. I manipulated the title thinking that the standard cliche would grab more readers’ attention. This is an entrepreneurial success story about a couple in California that came up with an idea that really is right for our times. In fact a very low tech solution for a high tech world.

Their original idea in the late 90’s based on a notion that the world would soon purchase hordes of goods online turned out to be dead on. However, their original version of a secure mailbox/dropbox was the size of a microwave oven. Who knew that digitization would change the world so drastically that computers would go from cathode ray tube monitors to LED slices. They clearly saw how Amazon.com and the Shopping Channel would change how we shop but also the problem it presented. The dreaded “deliveries are made between 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., please have someone there to receive it” in which we are held captive to the whims of a driver, computerized delivery system, the weather or acts of God. What evolved was a company with a safe, sound proposition for modern times, a secure, weatherproof and tamperproof receptacle capable of holding high value small parcels and large mail anytime of day…no signature required. Clearly they had the captured the real “ah hah” moment. Freedom and peace-of-mind in a box!

The company name is Architectural Mailboxes and the Oasis model depicted above sells for $248.00 U.S. and is available at Lowe’s in Buffalo. They have a full line of very eye pleasing mailboxes in tradional and contemporary styles that you would rarely see in Toronto. Worth a look online.