We’ve all ordered something that we desperately wanted, only to realise that we need to go to work and make a living, rather than wait at home for that box to arrive. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a mailbox to say your present is here?
Now there is, and it’s an Aussie invention, at that.
Called the Pakman Parcel Delivery Box, it’s a postbox that you’ll leave outside your home which has been designed to fit common parcel sizes, and comes with something that makes it fit under our GadgetGuy expectation of it being a gadget: automatic notifications.
The idea is that when a delivery is made, the courier scans a specific code on the box using the PDAs that we all sign on. This specific code is tied to a home and the address of that home, and the courier’s computers send the notification to the owner of the box either by email or SMS, which would conceivably also be the owner of the parcel.
“More and more people find themselves setting aside time to collect their parcels or sending their online purchases to their workplace,” said Mark Thame, General Manager at Mayo Hardware, the company launching the mailbox.
“The Pakman Parcel Delivery Box is designed to save online shoppers’ time and money by ensuring all packages are delivered safely and securely to residential properties.”
The boxes are reasonably tall and can be mounted to the walls, and include a pull open slot to make easy delivery possible, so there’s less likelihood of a courier complaining you weren’t there for pickup, forcing you to miss out on the next delivery of books, movies, or even shoes.
Regular mailboxes can also be added at an optional cost, capable of taking regular mail, in case you were thinking of retiring your old letter-filled dusty metal mailbox.
Currently, there is only one courier company signed up to work with the special barcode-based notification system Pakman is using, and that’s Fastway Couriers, though the Mayo Hardware expects more to be added shortly, with Thame adding that he and the company “look forward to expanding availability to all delivery companies nationwide.”
Pricing of the Pakman Parcel Delivery Box comes in at $329, with extra mailboxes retailing for $99 each, with the wall frame kit coming at an optional cost. Availability for this new mailbox should be at Bunnings stores across the country now.
