Safestoop Wants to Save You From Stolen Packages & Missed Deliveries

Because it's not OK to leave stuff on the sidewalk in the middle of the city.

Image of Amazon packages photo via Shutterstock

Image of Amazon packages photo via Shutterstock

‘Tis the season for online holiday shopping—and for missing deliveries. Or worse, having your loved one’s gift stolen from your doorstep.

But Boston startup Safestoop wants to prevent that. (Talk about holiday cheer.)

Sean Meagher understands the devastation. In October 2014, his girlfriend was notified that the birthday present she bought for him was delivered to their Dorchester apartment. When she returned home, she discovered someone stole the package from their doorstep when they weren’t home.

“I recognized in that moment, ‘Who in their right mind would think it’s OK to leave stuff on the sidewalk in the middle of the city?’” Meagher says. “But her moment of devastation was my aha moment. We laugh about it now.”

Meagher quit his job at management consulting firm Accenture four months later, eager to start his own business. As he was mulling over startup ideas, his girlfriend’s experience stuck with him—her having to put in a lost package claim, make sure UPS would be covering the mishap with their insurance, and determine whether UPS or the retailer would be re-sending her purchase.

“She had to go through an hour of phone calls touching base with all these different people,” Meagher says. “If it’s happening to her, I figured it must be happening to other people.”

Image Provided

Image Provided

Meagher spent the summer starting to piece Safestoop together. He needed to decide which neighborhoods the startup would deliver in and how he could guarantee packages would be assigned to the right people. On November 2, he launched the Safestoop website and broke the process down into a few simple steps.

Users are granted a customer number unique to their Safestoop locker. When they shop online, they provide the company with their locker address, as opposed to their home address. As soon as the package arrives at the Safestoop facilities, customers are notified via text message, and can then select a one-hour delivery window.

Safestoop offers evening and weekend delivery seven days a week. Users can have their packaged delivered between 6 and 10 p.m. on Monday through Friday, or from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday and Sunday. For those who pay per delivery, they spend $4 for every package Safestoop delivers. Others can pay $19 for a monthly subscription, which comes free of the delivery fee.

When asked how Safestoop differentiates itself from offerings like the UPS Access Point Network, which delivers users’ packages to their neighborhood grocery store or other local business for them pick-up when it’s most convenient, Meagher emphasizes bring they will bring the package directly to you.

“We are that access point,” Meagher says, “but we’re still going to provide you the service of bringing it to you.”

Meagher is currently working with two others to make the deliveries, and notes that the feedback so far has been “great.” Safestoop covers 16 neighborhoods and plans to start offering service in additional areas, such as Allston-Brighton, Somerville,  and Cambridge, in 2016.

“We’re looking for depth in this city before going out and exploring other cities,” Meagher explains.

And now you won’t have to start looking for your package when it’s not on your doorstep.