February 4, 2016 (Arlington, Va.) – PostalVision 2020’s 6th annual event, to be held March 15-16, 2016, in Pentagon City, VA, will feature presentations and demos from cutting edge innovators and entrepreneurs who are rapidly developing new solutions to meet the B2Me consumer empowerment challenges being faced by our global postal ecosystem.
“One of the foundations of our PostalVision Initiative is to look at change and growth in our postal ecosystem, and to help showcase new businesses, new ideas, new technologies, and the innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs in this space,” said John Callan, managing director of Ursa Major Associates and Founder of the PostalVision 2020 Initiative. “No other event showcases the particular set of innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs that PostalVision does,” Callan said. “Our conference focuses not only on developing a collective and collaborative vision of how our global postal ecosystem can be reinvented to meet the future needs of Americans, but also on the innovative ideas, solutions and changes that will support that future system and better serve tomorrow’s consumers.”
The PostalVision 2020 Innovation Showcase at this year’s event will include presentations, discussions (and some live demos!) from the following:
Anthony Watson, head of Business Development, will discuss how innovator ShipBob is changing the way people ship. ShipBob is a smart phone application which allows consumers to ship items by a simple click of their mobile phone camera. The customer takes a photo of the item they want shipped and tells ShipBob where and how they want it shipped. A ShipBob agent comes to their location and collects it, then packages it and ships it via their chosen carrier.
Steve Burns, co-founder and CEO of Workhorse, will discuss their HorseFly™ drone/UAV which is designed to speed package delivery while cutting costs. When mated to a Workhorse electric truck, the HorseFly™ drone/UAV can quickly recharge from the truck’s large battery. With delivery trucks scattered within almost any region during the day, the UAV can make short flights from the vehicle, as opposed to flying from a warehouse for each delivery.
Keith Cornell, Chief Commercial Officer, will discuss how Starship Technologies (founded by former Skype co-founders) aims to fundamentally improve local delivery of goods and groceries, making it almost free, by introducing fleets of small, safe, practical, free from CO2 emissions, and best of all, earthbound, delivery robots. The Starship robots “create unprecedented convenience and cost savings for individuals, while opening up new opportunities for businesses such as parcel delivery firms or grocery stores.”
Idriss Al Rifai, co-founder and CEO of Fetchr, will discuss its technology solution that makes shipping “as delightful as shopping.” Fetchr solves the problem of no physical addresses in emerging markets, through a proprietary shipping and logistics solution: the Fetchr app, which uses a customer’s phone as a GPS location. With its app, Fetchr can locate their exact location, allowing it to deliver packages to customers faster and more efficiently.
Patrick Armstrong, founder and CEO of Snaile (pronounced "Snailee") in January 2016 announced the launch of their new Canadian mail notification technology. Installed directly into an owner's Canada Post community mailbox (CMB), the service alerts users when mail is physically present. The simple and easy-to-install device simplifies the physical verification process whenever mail is added to the box.
Greg Mackin, co-founder and CEO of ParcelHome will discuss their Smart Box letterbox solution, which is currently undergoing pilot testing in Belgium in collaboration with carriers DHL, GLS, bPost , Post NL and DPD -- and soon also to test in France with Amazon and FedEx. Once installed, it allows couriers to make secure home deliveries any time without the need for the customer to be there to receive the package, with a companion app notifying the recipient when the delivery has been made.
Neel Murthy, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based startup SwapBox will discuss their solution for helping customers prevent missed delivery. Customers can shop online and ship packages to SwapBox, who notifies them by email and/or text message with the pickup details when the item arrives. SwapBox was founded by a team from Google, Microsoft, eBay, Stanford and Zynga that is backed by Y Combinator and prominent investors in Silicon Valley.
Dan Treiman, Vice President of Doorman will talk about their solution “to perfect the final moment of e-commerce -- the moment when you actually get your stuff.” Doorman’s API allows partners to integrate Doorman’s scheduling functionality directly into their own websites and applications. With Doorman, the idea is that consumers can provide an online retailer with their “Doorman address,” which is a location in the company’s warehouse, then specify when, exactly, they want that order sent to them (at home or elsewhere) via Doorman’s app, which also notifies them when the courier is in route.
Mike Comstock, Senior Vice President of Customer Success/Strategy Advisor for Grand Canal (and co-founder of the Ursa Major Associates), will discuss GrandCanal’s Optimize™ service, which provides visibility into and analytics on a company's logistics spend and supply chain network. By combining data science with deep supply chain expertise, Grand Canal brings innovation to this market and returns control over shipping and logistics to the enterprise.
PostalVision events have long been a great place to hear about and see the latest innovations in the postal/logistics/delivery market, with past participants including drone/UAV manufacturers Flirty, Matternet and 3D Robotics; addressing innovators What3Words and Ship2MyID; social letter writing innovator Lettrs; product sampling innovator SoPost; last mile delivery solution providers KePol Logistics, SkyShop Logistics, and others; and digital/print innovators such as DigitalToPrint.com, Click2Mail, and more!
In addition to showcasing innovation and new ideas, the PostalVision 2020/6.0 event will feature high-ranking representatives from the U.S. Postal Service, executives from other posts, visionaries, analysts and more. Check out our event agenda posted on the PostalVision 2020 web site!
A very limited number of press passes are available for this Washington, DC-area event. Contact PostalVision 2020 Director of Community & Brand Development Kathleen Siviter (ksiviter@ursamajorassociates.com) for more information on attending the event and special press briefing.
About PostalVision 2020
PostalVision 2020 is the creation of Ursa Major Associates, LLC , a leading strategy consultancy, providing thought leadership and strategic business development services to the global postal-parcel-logistics industry. Since 2001, the firm has served leading private sector corporations and entrepreneurial start-ups as well as public institutions engaged at all levels of service along the postal and parcel delivery value chain. Ursa Major Associates, LLC is headquartered in Essex, CT. For more information visit http://www.postalvision2020.com.