A new company is letting New Yorkers pick up their packages at their convenience.
Launched in November 2014, GoLocker is a Brooklyn-based start-up that delivers parcels to lockers stored in neighborhood businesses.
It is the brainchild of Nigel Thomas, who got the idea from the German national carrier, the Deutsche Post, which uses similar kiosks.
Thomas, who is 39 and lives in Canarsie, formerly worked as a software engineer for FedEx for 14 years. After he participated in a voluntary buyout program and left the company, he invested his severance package in his new business.
He orders the GoLocker machines from a manufacturer in Europe that sells them at a sticker price of roughly $12,000 each.
Mail first gets delivered to a warehouse in DUMBO, where it gets sorted and sent to the appropriate GoLockers.
Customers can sign up at GoLocker.com and pay per package ($1.99 each) or choose from two memberships: $7.99 a month for 10 packages or $14.99 a month for unlimited.
They have 48-72 hours — depending on their membership — to claim their package from a kiosk. Users can also mail packages from the lockers.
“The customer doesn’t have to travel far to pick up or deliver a package and they can do it on their time,” Thomas explained.
Currently there are GoLockers at locations in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights and Park Slope, with plans to expand. Thomas said that businesses turn a profit because GoLocker pays them a monthly fee to keep the kiosks and they get increased foot traffic from customers picking up packages.
Lauren Murphy, a 33-year-old Crown Heights resident, said that as a teacher she rarely has time to go to the post office. “I moved into this building where there’s no vestibule or anything, so packages get left on the sidewalk, where they get taken or rained on,” she said. “Now [with GoLocker] I can pick it up whenever I want.”
